A senior Law Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Poku Adusei has backed calls for the promulgation of a law to enforce the National Sanitation Day.
This, according to him, will compel Ghanaians to actively participate in the monthly clean up exercise.
The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development set the first Saturday of every month aside, to clean the environment but reports have indicated that residents in some communities have developed apathy and indifference towards the exercise.
The exercise held in November 2014 for instance was poorly patronised, prompting officials of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to put in more measures to whip up interest in subsequent months.
The latest clean up exercise which took place on January 3 also recorded poor patronage; a situation the Local Government Ministry blamed on the failure of the various local assemblies to appreciate the rationale behind the institution of the national exercise.
Speaking to Citi News, the law lecturer said the law will vest authority in government to sanction any citizen who fails to participate in the exercise.
“First of all, you will need to be able to convince the people that the exercise is good and therefore they will need to participate in it but if it is not backed by any law and you force them, then they will be able to tell you that it is not backed by law and for that reason it is a voluntary exercise which they may decide to take part or not take part,” he explained.
Dr. Adusei added that when the exercise is backed by law, “depending on how it is couched, there could be some compulsion with which you can be sanctioned appropriately…”
This is not the first appeal for laws to be enacted to ensure the enforcement of the National Sanitation day.
The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kofi Boakyi earlier recommended a strict enforcement of the law to ensure massive participation from all Ghanaians during national sanitation days.
He further requested that a law restricting vehicular movement and banning people from doing business respectively during the exercise should be enacted but the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) dismissed those suggestions, describing them as untenable.
This article has 0 comment, leave your comment.