The Rev Dr Lawrence Tetteh, the President of the Worldwide Miracle Outreach, said on Tuesday that poor hygiene in the country had led to the outbreak of infectious diseases such as cholera.

He said it was regrettable that after 57 years of independence and in the 21st century, Ghana was battling cholera, worm infestations and other infestations which were as a result of poor hygiene and bad sanitation.

Dr Tetteh said this at the launch of the “Ghana for Christ Crusade” to be held at Mantse Agbonaa, James Town, Accra, from December 3 December 5, on theme “This Nonsense Must Stop”!

He said: “As it is the practice, some citizens turn to blame the government in power year in year out for their perceived lack of commitment to our achieving a cleaner and healthier Ghana.”

“However I beg to differ on this issue. Previous governments have proposed significant useful strategies to achieve this litter free Ghana.”

Rev Dr Tetteh said it must be admitted that as citizens, Ghanaians continued to wallow in unhygienic practices such as indiscriminate urinating, defecation, spitting and littering.

It would, therefore, be a herculean task to achieve the goal that had been set by the government to keep Ghana clean and reduce the incidence of these hygiene related diseases.

He said homes, market places, schools and places of work should all in their small way develop a strategy to assist the government to keep the country clean.

Dr Tetteh described the recent concept of a “National Sanitation Day” to be held once a month as a very laudable idea.

“However, in a society ideas are only actualized when the members of the society understand the benefits of the proposed idea and are encouraged to buy into it. Therefore this is where the media play a very crucial role,” he stated.

He suggested that though the media houses needed to be paid for the use of their airtime, less time should be spent on party politics, comments and phone-ins which do not focus on issues such as health and sanitation which are crucial to the development of the nation.

Rev Dr Tetteh said the choice of theme of the crusade “this nonsense must stop” was to buttress the point that “we must as Ghanaians stop sitting on the fence and be concerned about issues of pressing national.”

He said the Ghana for Christ Crusade was a series of evangelistic programmes comprising of prayer, intercession, healing and deliverance which had become key to his25 years in ministry.

“However, this is the first time it is being held at Mantse Agbonaa, James Town in the capital city of Ghana, Accra”.

He said though political leaders and the entire citizenry speak about peace, it was very important that actions should reflect what “we say at all times, not forgetting where we are coming from.”

“With regards to our political terrain, we must not lose sight of the fact that we have come a long way with regards to democracy, political discourse and stability in our nation Ghana. Therefore our leaders and the national citizenry must not only talk peace but walk the talk,” he said.

Rev Dr Tetteh said it was the collective responsibility of all Ghanaians to present a massive united front to promote the peace, unity and well being of the country.

“Every Ghanaian is responsible for the success of our already existing democratic rule and we can only achieve this noble course through unity, fellow feeling and understanding of the fact that, though we belong to different political parties, we are all fundamentally Ghanaians,” he said.