Ghana, Accra resilient enough to rebuild cleaner, stronger city – President Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has expressed confidence that Ghana and Accra will recover from the devastating floods and rebuild an even cleaner and stronger city, describing the country as resilient.
President Mahama made the remarks while participating in the second day of the National General Cleaning Exercise at Alajo.
“Ghana is a resilient country. Accra is a resilient city, and together, we will recover from this challenge and rebuild an even cleaner and stronger city,” he said.
He said the exercise had recorded an impressive turnout on its first day, with participation on the second day also proving encouraging.
President Mahama appealed to residents who had not yet joined the exercise to come out and participate, so that together, the city could be cleaned following the floods.
He recalled that he had given a directive the previous day concerning an issue that had affected past cleanup exercises, where garbage removed from drains and gutters was left by the roadside without being collected, only for the same waste to be washed back into the drains when the rains came.
“Today, our focus is to ensure that all the waste removed from the drains is collected, loaded onto the large trucks available and transported to the appropriate disposal sites,” he said.
He said that, given the size of the city and the volume of waste removed, the task could not be completed in a single day, adding that after the two-day exercise, the Ghana Armed Forces and other agencies would continue the work of clearing the remaining waste within and around the drains.
President Mahama also disclosed that Government had identified the need to improve the city’s waste management system, noting that six transfer stations constructed more than nine years ago had never been operationalised.
He noted that Government had engaged the contractor, Zoomlion, to reopen the stations, allowing waste trucks to deposit garbage there instead of travelling long distances to Amasaman, from where larger trucks would transport the waste to final disposal sites.
He thanked everyone who had come out to participate in the exercise and encouraged those still at home to join in.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
