The Committee of Ecumenical and Social Relations of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Osu District has embarked on a public education programme for traders at the Osu Market.
The exercise, organised in partnership with the Market Association and the Korley Klottey Municipal Assembly (KoKMA), was to deepen public awareness of the environment and the health benefits of good sanitation.
Mr Samuel Nortey Quaye, Chairman of the Committee in an interview with the Ghana News Agenc
y (GNA), said once people were healthy, they would be able to undertake every activity that would help enhance their livelihoods.
He said sanitation was a major public interest issue, hence the need for the committee to engage the market women and encourage them to practice good sanitation and improve the environment within the market as well their communities.
Mr Quaye noted that “our lives depend on our environment and so there is the need to take every necessary step to have a clean environment to avoid any health hazards.”
He said the only way to curb the sanitation challenges was attitudinal change across all levels and urged the market women to ensure personal hygiene and good sanitation practices in the markets as well as the environment.
Mr William Otoo Junior, Assistant Chief Environmental Health Officer, KoKMA, stated that the drains at the market places should be kept clean, adding that “the waste water in the drain should not be chocked but flow well.”
He reiterated that stagnation led to the breeding of mosquitoes and called on the women to come out with a cleaning exercise plan to ensure that the market was always clean to prevent the spread of diseases.
Mr Otoo encouraged the women to also make it a habit to undergo the regular health screening exercise introduced by environmental health directorate of the Assembly to stay healthy.
Rev. Ebenezer N. A. Ashittey, Minister in Charge, PCG, Shalom Congregation, Osu in his remarks admonished the women to keep clean environments quoting from Deuteronomy 23:12-14, Rev. Saying “God can only dwell among people who are clean as evident in his instructions to the Israelites.”
He said it was important to maintain clean homes, environment, and a nation to continually have the presence of God, saying “cleanliness is not next to Godliness, but cleanliness is Godliness.”
Rev. Ashittey called on stakeholders, corporate organisations, religious bodies, NGOs, individuals, and the public “to preach the gospel of good environmental practices.”
