The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, has announced that government’s sanitation clean-up exercise is continuing across affected areas despite the conclusion of the two-day national exercise directed by President John Dramani Mahama last week.
Speaking to the media ahead of a tour of selected locations affected by flooding and waste accumulation, the Minister said the engagement was intended to give journalists a first-hand view of the progress made since the official clean-up exercise ended.
According to him, the Ministry had come under increasing pressure from the media and the public for updates on the operation, prompting the decision to organise the field tour.
“Every media house wishes to engage me, but if I focus entirely on media engagements, I will not be on the field.
This is field time,” he said.
Mr. Ibrahim explained that although the President directed a two-day nationwide clean-up exercise on Friday and Saturday, the initiative marked only the beginning of a wider sanitation operation.
“As you are all aware, the clean-up exercise marked the beginning of a much broader operational effort.
Since then, substantial activities have continued across all the affected areas,” he stated.
He assured the public that clean-up operations would continue until all affected locations had been fully cleared.
The Minister outlined several ongoing interventions, including the evacuation and transportation of collected waste to designated disposal sites, the decongestion of refuse accumulation points, and other sanitation-related measures aimed at restoring environmental cleanliness.
According to him, significant progress has already been made, although work remains ongoing in some areas.
Mr. Ibrahim said the media tour would provide journalists with an opportunity to witness the progress made on the ground and better understand the scale of the ongoing operations.
He added that the Ministry was following the necessary operational procedures to ensure that waste is completely removed from all affected locations in due course.
The Minister further disclosed that a comprehensive technical briefing outlining the next phase of the exercise and the way forward would be held after the field assessment tour.
