President John Dramani Mahama has re-launched the National Sanitation Day campaign with a call on Ghanaians to restore traditional values of cleanliness and collective responsibility geared towards ensuring good sanitation practices.
Speaking at the Local Government Institute in Madina-Accra on Saturday, September 6, 2025 the President urged both citizens and institutions to take sanitation seriously as a moral, cultural, and developmental duty.
He reminded Ghanaians that sanitation is deeply rooted in religious and cultural teachings.
“Every society has values, and in all societies, one of the most important is cleanliness. Whether you are a Christian, Muslim, or belong to African traditional religion, all of them uphold the saying that cleanliness is next to godliness.
The President contrasted Ghana’s situation with countries like Japan and Singapore, where strict cultural values ensure public discipline.
“When you go to Japan and Singapore, you won’t see one single piece of paper or plastic on the ground. In Singapore, ‘chewing gum’ is not even sold and if you are caught with it, the punishment is ten ‘hot’ lashes. That’s how seriously they take cleanliness”, he said.
President Mahama announced plans to reintroduce civic education in schools to instil discipline and responsibility in young people.
“We are in discussion with the Ministry of Education to create a curriculum on courtesy and responsible citizenship. If we train our children from basic school through secondary school, they will not depart from it when they grow,” he explained.
The President advocated restoring some traditional authority to chiefs to enforce sanitation laws.
“I believe that in every community there is a chief. If so, then we can put a sanitation court in the palace of the chief. Working together with the district assembly, persistent polluters should be brought before these courts and sanctioned,” he proposed.
President Mahama reiterated that all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCE’s) will be held accountable for keeping their areas clean.
“Sanitation is your number one Key Performance Indicators (KPI), when we come to assess your performance, we will look at how you handled sanitation.
Beyond sanctions, the President promised incentives for districts that prioritize sanitation.
“I have asked the Minister to put in place a system of awards for the cleanest districts. The cleanest districts will receive very handsome awards, and traditional authorities will also benefit,” he announced.
On his part, the Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Hon. Ahmed Ibrahim, pledged stricter enforcement measures to tackle Ghana’s sanitation challenges. He stated that the National Sanitation Day programme will be fully enforced across all 16 regions and 261 districts in the country.
To strengthen accountability, the Minister announced new measures including a dedicated sanitation hotline for citizens to report inappropriate handling and deposition of refuse by Assemblies.
To this end, the Minister called on traditional authorities and faith-based organisations to rally behind the National Sanitation Day campaign.
SOURCE: ISD – LaNMMA
