President Mahama Deploys DRIP Equipment and Armed Forces for Agbogbloshie Clean-Up
President John Dramani Mahama has deployed District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) equipment and the Ghana Armed Forces to begin the large-scale evacuation of accumulated waste from Agbogbloshie.
The operation brings together heavy machinery, military engineering expertise and coordinated support from government institutions to tackle one of the country’s longest-standing sanitation challenges.
Government says the exercise will use excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders and tipper trucks secured under the DRIP programme to remove the waste to the Adepa Engineered Landfill for environmentally safe disposal.
President Mahama announced the deployment on Friday at Agbogbloshie in Accra before officially commencing the evacuation of the waste site.
He said the decision to mobilise DRIP equipment reflected Government’s determination to put public assets to practical use, stressing that machinery purchased with taxpayers’ money must deliver direct benefits to citizens.
“These machines were purchased with taxpayers’ money, so they must deliver practical benefits to the people of Ghana,” the President said.
President Mahama commended the Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, the Minister for Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, and the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, for proposing the coordinated use of DRIP equipment to address the sanitation crisis.
He also praised the DRIP coordinator, equipment operators, drivers and maintenance teams mobilised from the southern sector, urging them to operate safely, maintain the machinery and carry out the assignment with discipline and professionalism.
The President announced that the Ministry of Local Government is leading the exercise with operational and engineering support from the Ghana Armed Forces, particularly the 48 Engineer Regiment, whose recent work on clearing the Accra-Kumasi Expressway earned national recognition.
He disclosed that the Armed Forces would continue to play a broader role in national emergency operations beyond military duties.
“Soldiers will not only go to war. They will also be used for emergency operations,” he stated.
President Mahama further revealed that private road contractors had pledged additional dump trucks and equipment, while bulk oil distribution companies and oil marketing companies were being engaged to provide fuel and other essential supplies for the operation.
He said the clean-up demonstrated what could be achieved when ministries, district assemblies, the security services and the private sector worked together, adding that every cedi, every machine and every public resource committed to the exercise must produce visible results for the Ghanaian people.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
