The Ashaiman Municipal Chief Executive, Freeman Tsekpo, has announced that the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly will begin strict enforcement of its sanitation by-laws, warning that residents who flout sanitation regulations will be prosecuted.

According to him, the assembly has undertaken extensive public sanitatio and has also written to shop owners on proper sanitation practices and believes residents have been adequately sensitised, making it necessary to move from awareness creation to enforcement.

Mr Tsekpo disclosed this during the municipality's observance of the first National Sanitation Day, where hundreds of residents, assembly members, sanitation workers and volunteers participated in a massive clean-up exercise across parts of Ashaiman.

The first phase of the exercise covered the stretch from the Ashaiman Roundabout to the Adjei Kojo Underbridge, as well as selected electoral areas within the municipality. The second phase is expected to focus on the Ashaiman Overhead stretch to the Lebanon School Junction.

The MCE expressed satisfaction with the level of public participation, describing the turnout as encouraging and an indication that residents have embraced President John Dramani Mahama's renewed national sanitation agenda.

Mr Tsekpo further identified the activities of informal waste collectors, locally referred to as "junkies," as a major sanitation challenge confronting the municipality. He explained that some of these individuals collect refuse from households only to dump it indiscriminately, thereby undermining efforts to keep the municipality clean.

He assured residents that the Assembly is putting in place measures to clamp down on the practice and ensure that waste isn't disposed of at approved sites in line with the Assembly's sanitation regulations.