Religious, Traditional leaders urged to impress followers to participate in NSD

 The Minister of Local Govern­ment, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, has urged religious and tradition­al leaders to impress upon their followers to actively participate in the National Sanitation Day (NSD) initiative.

Speaking at the re-launch of NSD by President John Dramani Mahama in Accra on Saturday, Mr Ibrahim said that the reli­gious and traditional leaders were capable to impress upon their followers to participate in the NSD initiative due to the influ­ence they wielded.

“The influence of our religious leaders reaches the hearts and minds of millions, and we will continue to knock at your doors to ensure that the very moral re­sponsibility towards maintaining a clean environment is achieved,” Mr Ibrahim stated.

He said: “Your leadership in mobilising communities for san­itation activities will inspire our collective efforts.”

Mr Ibrahim further called on other key stakeholders, including the media and the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assem­blies (MMDAs) to promote the initiative through public education and sensitisation programmes.

He also urged the MMDAs to ensure the enforcement of sanitation by-laws and provision of the necessary logistics to facilitate the project.

According to Mr Ibrahim, the NSD initiative, which was first introduced in 2014, demonstrat­ed that cleaner and healthier communities could be promoted through the collective effort of all stakeholders.

The Minister also mentioned that the NSD would be ob­served simultaneously across all 16 regions and 261 districts of Ghana on the first Saturday of every month.

Moreover, he noted that beyond clean-up exercises, the campaign would promote be­havioural change through public education on waste segregation, re-use, recycling, and enforce­ment of sanitation bye-laws.

Mr Ibrahim highlighted the objectives of the launch of the NSD initiative as a tool to restore discipline and pride in public spaces, empower and mobilise local government structures and to foster citizen participation, and accountability in a bid to enhance the country’s sanitation sector.

 BY CYNTHIA ASAMPANA

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