Mr Henry Quartey, Greater Accra Regional Minister has reiterated the need for residents and traditional leaders to join the campaign to clean and keep Greater Accra Clean.

Mr Quartey, in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Daniel Alexander Nii Noi Adumuah, Adenta Municipal Chief Executive at a Homowo durbar for the people and chiefs of Tema, said it was disheartened to see piles of refuses heaped all over the place.

He said to achieve a clean Greater Accra vision, he had introduced "Operation Clean Your Frontage" to get residents to see it as their responsibility to clean the frontage of their houses a measure to ensure that the communities were clean.

He stated that if residents would clean their frontage and extend the cleaning to the middle of the street in front of their houses, Accra would be clean adding that "when sweeping your house remember that the gutter in front of your house is part of the places you need to clean".

The Minister disclosed that he was in the process of intensifying Sanitation Inspections in the Region to help enforce cleanliness as he reminded residents of the "sama sama or town council" operations in some years back that ensured that people strictly adhered to sanitation byelaws.

He also bemoaned the lack of discipline in the Region noting that it was a common spectacle to see motorists disregarding traffic regulations, riding through red lights which was a recipe for accidents.

Touching on the celebration of the Homowo festival, the Regional Minister's representative said even though the various communities in the Region were celebrating the festival on a low key in compliance with the COVID-19 protocols, the President and his wife thought it wise to present some items to Tema Traditional Council and clan houses for the preparation KpoKpoi the festival food.

He noted that as eating of Kpokpoi was open to everyone, it fostered unity among the people and that was needed for the development of the Region therefore their resolve to contribute through the presentation of the items towards its preparation.

The items presented included; 13 sacks of maize, 10 gallons of liquor, several boxes of bottled water and an undisclosed amount of money.

Nii Armah Somponu II, Tema Shipi and Stool Secretary, on his part thanked government for the presentation of the items and made an appeal to government that their request for native Metropolitan Assembly for Tema which was one of the three districts in the Traditional Area still holds.

Nii Somponu also called on the industries in Tema to remember that their arable lands were given to them for construction of their facilities as a resort it affected the farming occupation of the people therefore there was the need for them to consider employing its teeming unemployed youth whenever they wanted to recruit.

Mr Felix Mensah Nii Anang-La, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, reiterated the need for residents to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols during the festival.

Mr Anang-La also bemoaned the lack of interest among some residents to allow enumerators to count them during the post enumeration survey.