From Michael Boateng, Sunyani
Participation in the tenth edition of the National Sanitation Day was massive in the Brong-Ahafo Region on Saturday, September 5, 2015, as the chiefs in the region delivered on their promise to lead the cleanup exercise to retain the enviable accolade of Brong-Ahafo being arguably the cleanest region in Ghana.
True to their words, the chiefs led the people in their respective jurisdictions to partake in the clean up exercise, as a way of fighting filth nationwide.
The chiefs did not just lead their people by giving orders, but amazingly, were seen with brooms and cutlasses actively cleaning their respective towns to the admiration of the people, who also followed suit to ensure that the battle against filth becomes a success.
At Bechem, the Paramount Chief, Nana Fosu Gyeabour Akoto, actively led the people, together with the District Chief Executive, Abukari Anaba, and the Deputy Minister of Local Government, Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, to sweep, de-silt and weed along the streets, market and lorry parks within the township.
There was a total compliance at Bechem, as all shops were closed, with shop owners taking part in the clean up exercise, which lasted four hours.
The situation was quite different at Duayaw Nkwanta, the capital of the Tano North District, as the sense of apathy towards the exercise was a bit high, with only the staff of the District Assembly, security agencies and Zoomlion partaking in the exercise.
It was a spectacular scene in Sunyani, the regional capital, as almost every citizen got involved in the exercise. The entire city came to a standstill, with taxi drivers abandoning their jobs to take part in the exercise, before resuming after 11:00a.m.
Commuters had a difficult time moving from their homes to their respective destinations, because all taxi drivers had parked their vehicles to honour the clean-up exercise.
Due to the enthusiasm to make Sunyani the cleanest city in the country, the exercise exceeded its scheduled time of four hours, despite the unavailability of the President, His Excellency John Mahama, as initially announced by the ministers of Local Government and Rural Development.
All gutters were de-silted with the support of the Ghana Fire Service, the military, police and the other security agencies. However, since some of the gutters were heavily choked with excessive sand, a bulldozer was brought in to assist for the free flow of waste water.
At Goaso in the Asunafo North District, the clean up exercise was massively done, with the Goaso Manhene, Nana Akwasi Bosompra, leading as promised. However, he insisted that most of the lanes within the Goaso Township had been blocked with unauthorised structures, thereby contributing to littering and silting of gutters.
He, therefore, ordered a demolition of all unauthorised structures, alongside cleaning up the Goaso township, for easy access and a clean environment.