The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has announced its intention to start publishing the images of individuals apprehended for indiscriminate waste disposal and open defecation within the metropolis.
The AMA asserts this initiative is a key component of its “name and shame” strategy, designed to enforce discipline and foster greater civic responsibility among residents.
Gilbert Nii Ankrah, the Public Relations Officer for the AMA, confirmed the arrest of several individuals who defied an AMA directive to keep their shops closed during the National Sanitation Day exercise held on Saturday, October 4, 2025.
He further revealed that some of those arrested were specifically caught engaging in open defecation and indiscriminate waste disposal.
Speaking on the Frontline program on Rainbow Radio 87.FM, Mr. Ankrah stated that all apprehended individuals would be brought before a court for prosecution.
Following this, the photographs of those involved in open defecation and waste disposal would be published as a deterrent to discourage others from participating in such unlawful practices.
Mr. Ankrah characterised the recent sanitation day exercise as largely successful, emphasising that it is not intended to be a fleeting effort.
He explained that the central idea is to sustain the exercise to ensure a continuously clean environment.
He stressed that a primary goal is to attract more tourists to the country, an agenda that cannot be realized without sustained efforts to maintain a clean capital.
”The National Sanitation Day exercise was successful on Saturday, but we have also served notices to 25 people for failing to participate in the exercise,” he told host Kwabena Agyapong. “Some of them were caught engaging in open defecation and indiscriminate disposal of waste. We will drag them before court and prosecute. We will particularly publish the photos of those who were engaged in waste disposal and open defecation to serve as a deterrent to others.”
He confirmed that AMA Public Health Officers have been deployed to serve the court notices to these 25 individuals. He added that those caught engaging in open defecation were specifically doing so in gutters.
”We want the public to understand that aside from the prosecution, we will publish the photos so they will learn a serious lesson from that,” he concluded. “We have to be responsible. You cannot generate your waste and dump it indiscriminately.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
