The Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, who announced this in Tema yesterday, said the campaign would begin with a massive clean-up exercise in Tema and would continue to Saturday, with a mopping up on Sunday.

Addressing Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and assembly members from the 27 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Tema ahead of the three-day clean-up exercise, Mr Quartey stressed that a clean environment remained one of the top priorities of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC). 

The meeting discussed the finalisation of activities ahead of the 66th regional Independence Day celebration to be held in Tema.

The region's parade will be held at the Tema Stadium, with activities such as inter-school quizzes, boxing bouts and national health insurance enrolments lined up to mark the day.

Mr Quartey said the ‘Operation Clean Your Frontage’ campaign, although had seen a little slowdown, would see a major revival after the Independence anniversary celebrations.

Zones

For the clean-up exercise,  the metropolis has been zoned into 14 areas, namely Tema Manhean, Tema Community One, Industrial Areas, Tema Motorway Overpass and the China Mall areas near the Tema Motorway tollbooth.

Other areas are Kpone Barrier to Kpone Station, Tema Free Zones Enclave, Ashaiman Market Road, Texpo Market at Batsoona, and Tema Community Two.

About 600 security personnel drawn from the Police, Fire Service, Military, and Immigration, as well as 600 members of the City Response Team, a specialised group of people trained to enforce the Operation Clean Your Frontage bye-laws, are expected to join residents in the exercise. 

All the MMDAs in the region are expected to join in the exercise, which will also see residents in the zones participating in health screening exercises.

Mr Quartey said the choice of Tema as host for the regional parade was aimed to reflect the purpose of diversity while cutting costs, as Accra had over the years hosted the event.

Closure of businesses

Mr Quartey, reiterating earlier calls for businesses within the affected areas to be closed from 8a.m. till midday, cautioned of sanctions against individuals and business owners who would disregard the directives.

For this reason, he said information vans had been deployed in the areas earmarked for the clean-up exercise as parts of public information and sensitisation.

"The bye-laws governing the exercise enjoins all landlords, business owners, hotels and industries to clean the frontage of their premises once any such activity is ongoing, and we expect that the people of Tema will duly comply,” Mr Quartey pointed out.

Entry points

The entry points from the Tema Motorway into the city of Tema, Mr Quartey said, were a major concern to the RCC, describing it as one not befitting the metropolis. 

“We need to pay attention to the entry points both in and out of Tema, and I will want to see the city authorities sustaining the programmes beyond the Independence celebrations,” he counselled.  

However, some Assembly members expressed concern about some businesses and hotels connecting their wastewater into community drains in most electoral areas across the region and appealed to the minister to intervene to halt such practices.

The minister, giving an assurance, said that he would engage the Ghana Tourism Authority to ensure that entities engaged in such acts were made to comply with the bye-laws of the assemblies.

He expressed concern at the indiscriminate citing of electioneering campaign billboards of assembly members and aspirants across various centres of the region, and said the RCC would engage the Advertisers Association of Ghana to streamline the installation of billboards for assembly member aspirants in conformity with the city rules.

He also tasked the Metropolitan Chief Executive of Tema, Yohane Armah Ashitey, to ensure the sustainability of the exercise, warning that, “I do not want to bring people to clean Tema, and after two weeks, things go back to normal.”