Ashaiman, June 5, GNA - Schools and communities in the Ashaiman municipality have been advised to initiate cleanliness competitions among their students and residents as a measure to improve upon the bad sanitation practices in the locality. Mr Edward Mba, Waste Management Officer of the Adenta Municipal Assembly, said such competitions would boost the moral of the people to change their behaviour towards indiscriminate waste disposal in the municipality.

Ashaiman, which is densely populated, is one of the municipalities that face major sanitation challenges as most residents do not observe good sanitation practices. Mr Mba who spoke on Thursday at a sanitation forum in Ashaiman said the residents are the only people who have the solution to their sanitation problems. "You must be the environmental guards in your areas to check your neighbours."

The forum was organized by Projects Abroad Human Rights Centre, a non-governmental organization on human rights issues in collaboration with the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) to commemorate this year's United Nations World Environmental Day. He said apart from its health implications, bad sanitation practices could affect the economic development of the municipality as residents. Mr Mba urged the public to be more responsible towards the management of waste and improvement of sanitation in their areas. Mrs Dora Hammond, the Ashaiman NCCE Municipal Director, said the forum was to enable them interact and collate suggestions from the community on the best way to solve the sanitation problem. Miss Natalie McClain, Volunteer of Projects Abroad, called for attitudinal change among the people as a first step towards improving their sanitation problems.