Mahama proposes monthly national clean-up day, pledges more equipment for flood control

President John Mahama has announced plans to institutionalise a nationwide monthly clean-up exercise, saying the current two-day campaign is insufficient to address Ghana’s growing sanitation and flooding challenges.

The President made the announcement on Friday after joining senior government officials and residents at Alajo in Accra to participate in and inspect the commencement of the two-day National General Cleaning exercise, organised as part of efforts to improve sanitation, clear clogged drains and reduce the risk of flooding.

“Two days are not enough to finish this work, but we are going to institute it so that at least one day every month all of us should come out and clean our surroundings,” Mahama said.

He said the proposal was intended to revive the communal spirit that traditionally encouraged Ghanaians to maintain clean surroundings, arguing that rapid urbanisation had weakened that culture.

“That is what our traditional values were about. We are taught to keep a clean environment, but when we all leave our hometowns and come, because of the anonymity of urbanisation, we think that nobody watches us, so we dump those values and we live in filth,” he said.

“We must change that attitude,” he added.

The President also outlined additional measures to strengthen the country’s flood mitigation efforts, particularly in Accra, where blocked drains and silted waterways have contributed to recurring floods.

He disclosed that the Minister of Finance had released GH¢150 million to support flood mitigation activities, including dredging streams and undertaking drainage improvement works.

“I’m also asking the Minister of Finance; he’s already released 150 million to help with flood mitigation, that is, the dredging of the streams and all that,” Mahama said.

He added that the military would continue drainage clearance operations beyond the two-day exercise as part of the government’s long-term flood prevention strategy.

“And so the military will continue that exercise, even after we have finished this two-day cleanup,” he said.

Mahama further announced plans to procure additional backhoes and other specialised equipment for the military to improve the removal of silt and waste from drains.

He said the equipment would enable authorities to transport excavated debris to designated disposal sites instead of leaving it along drainage channels, where it could be washed back into waterways during heavy rains.

“We also have to get specialised machines like backhoes to take the silts that we have taken out of the drains and put them in a tipper truck to take them away,” he said.

“So we’re going to get some more backhoes for the military so that all the garbage and the silts that we have taken out of the drains, they’ll be able to gather it and go and dump it somewhere.”

The President warned that failing to remove dredged material would undermine the effectiveness of desilting operations.

“Otherwise, if we don’t do that, what we’ve done will be in vain because when the rains come, it will just wash all those silts and garbage back into the drain,” he said.

The announcements form part of the government’s broader response to the June 29 floods, which claimed lives, displaced residents and caused widespread damage to homes and infrastructure in several parts of the country, particularly the Greater Accra Region.

Mahama concluded by thanking traditional leaders, volunteers, security personnel and residents who participated in the nationwide clean-up exercise, urging Ghanaians to sustain the effort to improve sanitation and reduce flood risks.