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Dr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, has advised Ghanaians to make environmental cleanliness a daily routine to prevent outbreak of diseases.

“What I will like to say is that we should not wait till the National Sanitation Day before we clean our surroundings; it must be on daily basis from our homes, communities and beyond,” he said.

Dr Vanderpuije gave the advice at a forum organised by the College of Basic and Allied Sciences of the University of Ghana.

He said environmental sanitation was a shared responsibility and people should contribute their quota towards educating others “because those who create the filth could be our friends, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers and what have you.”

He called on the media to support the assemblies with information by filming or taking pictures of wrong doers to assist the appropriate authorities to take action.

Some of the issues participants touched on were noise-making, open defecation, pan-latrine usage, behaviour of AMA Taskforce, and fighting over ownership of public toilets.

Dr Vanderpuije said the AMA, in an effort to eradicate open defecation, had built a number of public places of convenience in the metropolis, while landlords who had no toilet facilities in their houses were being summoned.

The Mayor said noise-making by some religious groups was a challenge in the metropolis which the assembly needed to curtail.

“As for our Taskforce we hold them in high esteem that is why we have given them numbers and anybody who misbehaves must have his number or photograph taken including the misdemeanor and send it to our offices and action would be taken.

“As I was going round the Ministries today I saw two of our guards in some shady action. I just took their numbers and called their leader and as I speak now those guys have been sacked,” he said.

Dr Vanderpuije said the fight over ownership of public toilet had been a political phenomenon for the past years adding; “anytime there is new political administration people lay claim to those things.”

He suggested that those in control of the toilets must be allowed to continue to take charge whether there was a change in government or not.

Dr Vanderpuije said the assembly needed financial assistance to carry out its activities because it could only rely on the District Assemblies Common Fund and, therefore, called on landlords to pay their property rates.

He appealed to institutions to assist, saying; “we have achieved a lot but there are more to be done especially on waste management.”

“Let us all hold our hands and work together to make Accra and indeed Ghana a safe place to live,” he said.