Ashaiman Municipal Assembly institutes community service

The Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA) has introduced the community service concept for people who flout sanitation laws in the municipality.

According to the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Ibrahim Baidoo, the new measure is part of efforts to improve the sanitation situation in the municipality.

Mr Baidoo announced this at the launch of  Sanitation Week in the municipality. He bemoaned the worsening insanitary conditions in the municipality and said, “while we intend to use the sanitation court to prosecute offenders, it is believed that adopting the mode of community service to penalise offenders would deter people from littering the environment indiscriminately.”

He said after 22 years of practising democracy and the existence of many universities and graduates, it was worrying that the country should be beset with a worsening sanitation situation.

“In the past when there were few universities and graduates, the practise of hygiene was profound, unlike today, ironically, when universities are many, with an increasing number of graduates,” he said.  

He said 15 years ago, Ashaiman was a community that attracted a lot of people. Unfortunately, he said, the same cannot be said today because of extreme insanitary conditions. 

“Now residents do not want to be associated with the community even though they reside here. They often say they reside in Tema when in actual fact, they are residents of Ashaiman,” he said.

Shared Responsibility

Mr Baidoo pointed out further that matters of sanitation was a shared responsibility that needed the collective efforts of all to correct.

“Until we begin to change our attitude and build consensus in addressing the poor conditions, huge resources would be expended on sanitation to the detriment of community development,” he stressed.

In spite of the conditions, he said the municipality was still a preferred business destination for many corporate institutions, gauging from the number of banking institutions and other businesses that are locating offices there. 

“We must, therefore, seize the opportunity and create a model municipality that is successful in tackling sanitation head on,” he said.