Saturday, July 11, marked the second and final day of the two-day National General Cleaning Exercise declared by President John Dramani Mahama in response to sanitation challenges exposed by the June 29 floods across the country.
The exercise, which commenced on Friday, July 10, formed part of the government’s post-flood interventions aimed at improving sanitation, clearing blocked drains and reducing the risk of future flooding in affected communities.
On the final day, President Mahama joined residents at Alajo in the Greater Accra Region to support efforts to remove accumulated waste, while Regional Ministers supervised clean-up activities in their respective regions.
The clean-up also saw participation from state institutions, private sector organisations and corporate bodies, including CAL Bank, which mobilised staff to contribute to the sanitation drive.
Unlike the first day, which focused largely on desilting drains and clearing waste from communities, activities on the second day centred on evacuating the heaps of refuse generated from Friday’s exercise to prevent them from being washed back into drainage systems during future rains.
To support the evacuation process, the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs deployed 600 tricycles to transport debris collected from various locations across the affected areas.
The deployment followed the use of 400 tricycles on the first day of the exercise, with authorities indicating that the additional logistics would accelerate the removal of waste and ensure that the exercise achieves its intended objective.
Meanwhile, waste management company Zoomlion Ghana Limited supported the national exercise by mobilising about 2,000 personnel and logistics across the country to assist with waste collection and disposal.
The company deployed waste trucks, loaders, tricycles and other equipment as part of efforts to complement government’s sanitation response and ensure that refuse gathered during the exercise was properly evacuated.
However, President John Dramani Mahama has announced that the Ghana Armed Forces will continue sanitation works beyond the two days officially designated for the National General Clean-Up Exercise.
The National General Cleaning Exercise was declared by President Mahama following the devastating June 29 floods, which affected several communities, particularly in the Greater Accra Region, resulting in loss of lives, destruction of property and the exposure of sanitation challenges across the country. 
