The Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GARCC) has completed a legal framework for the start of an initiative for all households and organisations to clean and beautify their frontage.

The GARCC has also completed consultations on the bye-law to govern the initiative, which will be launched next Friday.

As part of the Clean Your Frontage Campaign, the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) has been requested to train 3,000 civilians, known as the City Response Team, to enforce the bye-laws, while the waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Ltd, has been contracted to create refuse collection points in all the 29 MMDAs in the region.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Henry Quartey, who disclosed this in Accra yesterday, explained that the Clean Your Frontage Campaign would begin in January 2022.

"We will give a two-month grace period for mass education and awareness creation, so that people will get to know about the programme. Then we can enforce it next year," he said.

Lands Minister's tour

Mr Quartey disclosed this when the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, called on him as part of his tour of the Greater Accra Region.

Mr Jinapor's entourage included the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Forestry, Mr Benito Owusu-Bio; the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, Mr James Dadson; the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission, Mr Martin Ayisi, and other officials of agencies under the ministry.

Mr Jinapor has already visited 10 of the 16 regions to engage with key stakeholders on how to sanitise the small-scale mining industry, protect the environment from degradation and ensure effective land administration.

Licensing of tricycles

Mr Quartey said the GARCC had facilitated an agreement between the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and the MMDAs to provide dual licences for operators of motor tricycles, known locally as ‘Aboboyaa’, who would be responsible for the carting of waste to transfer stations for collection by big trucks.

He explained that when the facilities were in place, the motor tricycles would be restricted to operating only in their localities and banned from crossing boundaries to other MMDA spaces.

"The advantage in licensing the tricycle operators is that we will be able to regulate their activities and have their data. When this happens, they will be safe to work and the public will also be safe," he said.