Mr Francis Akumatey, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Yilo Krobo, has launched an “Operation Clean Your Frontage” drive to enforce sanitation bylaws in Somanya.
He urged personal responsibility and warning of penalties for non‑compliance.
The MCE rolled out the sanitation enforcement initiative to keeping Somanya, the municipal capital, and its surrounding communities clean.
He believes residents and businesses must take charge of their immediate environment.
The campaign, dubbed “Operation Clean Your Frontage,” brings together assembly members, assembly staff, environmental health officers, and other stakeholders to enforce hygiene standards across the municipality and ensure compliance with existing bylaws.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Akumatey said residents should not wait for periodic national clean-up exercises to tidy their surroundings but must adopt daily housekeeping practices at home and at work.
“You won’t be allowed to sit down and dirty the whole place, only to expect others to clean for you when it’s national sanitation day,” he cautioned.
“Wherever you are either your house or workplace, you must ensure the place is clean. This way, the workload on national sanitation day will be reduced and timely,” he added.
He expressed concern over the indiscriminate disposal of wastewater, particularly from bathrooms and hairdressing salons, into open drains.
He noted that such practices degraded neighbourhoods and heightened public-health risks.
He indicated that an ultimatum had been issued to residents and businesses to construct soakaways to curb pollution and free drains.
“I’ve noticed that many residential facilities and businesses still connect bathroom wastewater into gutters. I have directed that they build soakaways to free the drains. Anyone who fails to comply will face the full rigors of the law,” he warned.
He said health inspectors were empowered during recent national sanitation day exercises at Adjikpo and Nkurakan to summon offenders who violated sanitation bylaws but added that education and sensitisation would continue alongside enforcement to secure lasting behaviour change.
The MCE tasked the assemblyman for Adjikpo to lead by example, saying public office holders should meet the same standards expected of households and enterprises.
“If an assemblyman doesn’t have a soakaway, he cannot enforce the law. Leadership must set the pace,” he stressed.
Mr. Akumatey cited Agavenya in Somanya as a priority hotspot requiring urgent action due to persistent wastewater overflows that, he said, had created an unhealthy environment for residents and businesses.
“One cannot walk for even two minutes in Agavenya without stepping into bathwater waste. This is unacceptable,” he said.
He reminded residents that cleanliness is a shared civic duty and urged households, traders, and institutions to help prevent diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and malaria by keeping premises and drains clean, properly disposing of wastewater, and adhering to municipal directives.
“If we all play our part, we can avoid preventable outbreaks and live in a healthier environment,” he added.
The municipality’s push places enforcement at the centre of service delivery, echoing national policy that mandates Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to implement sanitation bylaws and prioritise public health.
The emphasis on soakaways, drain clearing, and routine housekeeping aligns with government sanitation objectives that pair community education with penalties for non-compliance, and complements periodic national clean-up exercises by shifting focus to continuous, community-led upkeep.
Health officials have had noted that the approach also reflected broader public-health goals to reduce vector-borne and water-related diseases through environmental hygiene and drainage management.
The Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly urged all residents, businesses, and institutions to comply with sanitation regulations, construct soakaways, and join hands to keep the municipality clean.
By Kamal Ahmed/GNA
