The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Hon. Linda Akweley Ocloo, has announced a comprehensive clean-up exercise across the region on Friday, February 28, 2025, as part of efforts to tackle the persistent sanitation challenges in Accra.
The initiative forms part of her broader agenda to improve environmental conditions, enhance public spaces, and strengthen sanitation management across the capital.
Her directive calls upon all residents, businesses, and relevant stakeholders to actively participate in the clean-up exercise.
In a firm statement, the minister emphasized her commitment to ensuring widespread involvement, warning that she would be conducting surprise visits to various locations to inspect participation levels.
“I’ll be visiting places without notice,” she asserted, stressing the importance of personal and collective responsibility in maintaining a cleaner environment.
Since assuming office, Hon. Ocloo has made it a priority to tackle two of Accra’s most pressing urban challenges, sanitation and street lighting.
Through strategic collaborations and stakeholder engagements, she is working to enhance waste management systems and public infrastructure, signaling a hands-on approach to urban governance.
Strategic Partnerships to Combat Sanitation Crisis
One of the minister’s immediate actions upon assuming office was engaging key sanitation management firms, including the Jospong Group, in efforts to strengthen waste disposal and environmental sanitation across the region.
This engagement underscores her commitment to mobilizing private-sector resources and expertise to enhance sanitation delivery.
Additionally, she has corresponded with the BuzStop Boys, a community-based group committed to environmental cleanliness.
Together, they are developing strategies to maintain clear gutters and clean public spaces while promoting volunteerism as a sustainable solution to sanitation challenges.
Further cementing her commitment to resolving the crisis, the minister has also initiated collaboration with Zoomlion Ghana Limited, one of the country’s largest waste management companies.
This partnership aims to expand waste collection, improve sanitation logistics, and create a more organized system for refuse disposal across the region.
In a bid to tackle sanitation concerns in some of Accra’s busiest commercial hubs, Hon. Ocloo recently met with officials of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and other relevant stakeholders to address the environmental conditions at major market centers, including Circle, Kaneshie, and Lapaz.
“Yesterday, I met with the appropriate authorities and stakeholders to engage market folks at Circle, Kaneshie, and Lapaz as we pay critical attention to sanitation, hawking spaces, and pressing issues to find tangible solutions to improve upon the situation”
Hon. Linda Akweley Ocloo, Greater Accra Regional Minister
The engagement highlights her broader vision for Accra, not only to ensure cleaner surroundings but also to introduce structured systems for managing informal trade activities in key business districts.
Oko Vanderpuije Backs Sanitation Efforts
Hon. Ocloo’s push for a cleaner Accra has received support from former Accra Mayor and current Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije.
The legislator assured Ghanaians that the National Democratic Congress (NDC)-led government is fully committed to addressing Accra’s sanitation problems, decongesting public spaces, and improving environmental discipline.
“We’ll rid Accra of filth and indiscipline soon,” he declared, signaling an alignment of efforts between regional authorities and national leadership to tackle the capital’s sanitation woes.
Oko Vanderpuije’s support reinforces the need for a combined approach, involving both policymakers and the general public, to effectively tackle the city’s long-standing waste management challenges.
Progress in Street Lighting Infrastructure
Beyond sanitation, the Greater Accra Regional Minister has also made significant strides in improving public lighting across the region.
On February 3, she announced an ambitious plan to fix 70% of the city’s non-functioning streetlights within 50 days.
By February 18, she provided an update that work on the project was set to begin, and more recently, visible results have started emerging.
Her efforts to enhance lighting infrastructure have been met with widespread appreciation, as residents begin to experience safer and more illuminated roads at night.
In a recent statement, she highlighted completed projects along key roads, including the Adenta-Aburi Highway and the Legon enclave.
She further assured the public that more areas would soon benefit from the initiative.
“Slow and steady, every major corner of Greater Accra is bound to experience ecstatic views at night. About 70% of it will be fixed as promised. Please remain calm, it’ll soon get to your neighborhood”
Hon. Linda Akweley Ocloo, Greater Accra Regional Minister
Additionally, she has issued directives to the Roads and Highways Authority within Greater Accra to immediately address malfunctioning traffic lights, particularly at critical locations, including the Odorgonno Senior High School.
Hon. Linda Akweley Ocloo’s leadership is fast shaping into a results-oriented administration that prioritizes community involvement and infrastructural progress.
By simultaneously tackling waste management and urban lighting, she is addressing two critical aspects of urban development that have long plagued Accra’s growth.
As the February 28 clean-up exercise approaches, the minister’s call to action remains clear; Accra’s transformation requires collective effort and support.
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