The Minister for Sanitation has ordered all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to make use of the by-laws on the rearing of stray animals in their jurisdictions.

According to the minister, it is time for the MMDCEs to arrest all stray animals and sell them to augment their Internally Generated Funds (IGF) at the Assemblies.

Madam Cecilia Dapaah gave this order when she visited the Ga West Municipal Assembly in the Greater Accra Region to acquaint herself with the Assembly’s exercise of arresting stray animals for sale.

She called on the various Assemblies to use the by-laws to the latter.

She noted that the mass arrest of stray animals in the city will be another source of revenue for the Assemblies like what is pertaining in Amasaman.

She urged the Assemblies to arrest the animals when they are found on the streets.

She took the opportunity to commend the MCE for Ga West, Clement Wilkinson, for the initiative.

The MCE speaking in an interview on the mid-day news on Accra 100.5 FM threw more light on the exercise and said the police in his area have found a new job by arresting stray animals in the area.

According to him, because of this high level of rearing of stray animals in the municipality, he had created a yard to house arrested stray animals for sale.

"In certain jurisdictions, such stray animals are jailed," he said.

He added that the Assembly has reviewed its by-laws to offer the animals arrested, as part of the exercise, for sale.

He boasted that he was able to rake in GHS270,000 from the exercise which could be used to build a CHPS compound for a deprived community.

He stressed that next month the Assembly will be offering for sale some of the stray animals arrested as part of the exercise.

He said the animals include 15 goats, five sheep and one dog.

''We sell them at knock down price to entice people to buy them but when it had to be returned to the owners they have to pay a penalty of GHS 1000.  

"This is to serve as a deterrent to people not to keep stray animals," he added