President John Dramani Mahama has encouraged Ghanaians to come out and work together to clean the country on Saturday, during the National Sanitation Day.
President Mahama in a statement said, “Sanitation is a public good and its impact affects everybody irrespective of one’s ethnic, political, religious or geographical background.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”MGtrfKd2q0fZphUZXmbiSa93X2JT2Ul6″]The country has for the past few months been battling with the cholera outbreak which has so far claimed about 150 lives after affecting about 18,000 people in 96 districts of the country.
President Mahama has described the deaths as “needless.”
Various groups and individuals have blamed Ghanaians for not adopting simple sanitation practices hence the outbreak.
In a press statement by President Mahama on commemoration of the World Sanitation Day on November 1, said “the annual cycle of cholera outbreaks is linked to insanitary conditions and unacceptable socio-cultural habits, coupled with an infrastructure deficit. These deaths are indeed painful and unacceptable.”
He said government is investing heavily in infrastructural projects such as drainage, water supply and health care facilities across the country.
“In addition to the various public education campaigns aimed at changing our behavior and attitude towards proper sanitation and cleanliness, government has decided to declare the first Saturday of every month a National Sanitation Day,” the release declared.
He also called on Ghanaians “to work together, as one unified community of people to ensure the sustainable cleaning of our environs and help make Ghana cleaner and safer.”
In September, President Mahama joined residents of Akoto Lante and Bukom in the Odododiodoo Constituency in the Accra Metropolis for massive clean-up exercise in the community.
He also participated in a similar exercise at Nima and visited the La General Hospital and the LEKMA Hospital at Teshie to observe the impact of the cholera outbreak.
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By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana