Ghana Cocoa Board Deputy CEO Calls for Permanent Clean-Up Culture

Ghana Cocoa Board Deputy Chief Executive Francis Baah has called for a permanent shift towards cleanliness, stating that the ongoing national clean-up exercise must not be a fleeting initiative. Baah led management and staff of COCOBOD in a large-scale clean-up of the organization's head office and the Accra Central business district on Friday.

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We must not treat this as a one-off event. This should be the beginning of a permanent cultural shift. I call on all Ghanaians to be disciplined and law-abiding. We must question our own motives towards our own country.

The exercise, part of President John Dramani Mahama's directive for flood-affected regions, involved desilting choked gutters and clearing accumulated plastic waste and debris. Baah emphasized that the true challenge lies in sustaining the momentum beyond the current two-day event.

"We must not treat this as a one-off event," Baah stated in an interview. "This should be the beginning of a permanent cultural shift. I call on all Ghanaians to be disciplined and law-abiding. We must question our own motives towards our own country."

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You go to Europe and America and you respect their sanitation laws and other regulations. You keep those places clean for fear of being punished or deported. Why do you do this to your own country? Why don't you respect your own laws and regard your own country with the same commitment?

He urged citizens to demonstrate the same adherence to sanitation laws in Ghana as they do in Europe and America, questioning why this respect is not extended to their own nation. Baah drew on his personal upbringing, where his family took pride in maintaining clean surroundings, to advocate for a revival of personal responsibility starting from the individual and the home.

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That culture of personal responsibility is what we need to revive. It starts from the home, from the individual. If every Ghanaian takes ownership of the space around them, we will not wait for a national directive to keep our cities clean.

The clean-up is part of broader efforts by the Post-Flood Mitigation Committee across seven regions. Markets and shops were closed for the two-day period to facilitate thorough cleaning and disinfection of flood-affected trading centers. Baah praised President Mahama's initiative and urged Ghanaians to protect the environment for future generations.

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We must protect this country and keep our environment clean.