Scores of traders within the Suhum Business Municipality of the Eastern Region on Saturday abandoned their trading activities in the early hours of the morning to participate in the monthly National Sanitation Day (NSD) exercise.

The exercise saw a number of the traders clearing choked drains and sweeping the various markets, collecting the deposited debris for disposal.

Mrs Margret Ansei, the Municipal Chief Executive of the Suhum Kraboar Coaltar, together with Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, led the exercise and was supported by Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company.

The two with their entourage toured some principal streets and various suburbs of the municipality as they participated in the exercise.

Describing the exercise as a successful one, Mrs Ansei said it was important for the public to accept the national exercise as a collective responsibility.

She said the monthly NSD exercise, which is a government intervention, was gradually paying off.

“We are committed to working more; we are going to make sure that we keep the fire burning so that we get more people involved in creating a more conducive environment for everybody.”

Alhaji Dauda thanked the people of the area for the good work done and appealed to them to continue with the exercise to help ensure a clean hygienic environment.

He also called for peaceful co-existence among the public- irrespective of one’s political, ethnic, social, tribal and religious backgrounds, saying without peace there can never be development.

Osaberima Kofi said Ghana’s political situation was very polarized and that with concerted effort the situation could change.

He called on the Information Services Department to start filming war zone areas in other African for people to see the dangers of war.

The NSD was instituted in 2014 by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development under the directive of President John Dramani Mahama to revive the spirit of communal labour in our communities.

The first Saturday of every month is set aside to observed the exercise nationwide.