The Head of the Local Government Service, Prof. Lord Mensah, has called on staff of the Local Government Service and Ghanaians at large to embrace good sanitation practices as a way of life and as a personal responsibility rather than treat the on-going National Flood Aftermath Clean-Up Exercise as a one-off event.
Prof. Mensah made the call while addressing staff of the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service in Accra on 10 July 2026, ahead of the national exercise.
He said that while the President’s directive for a two-day national clean-up was important, the real work had to continue beyond 11 July 2026. “This is a national call for us to clean our environment, but beyond the national call, it is supposed to be a call to self and a responsible as well,” he said.
We must help ourselves because the Bible says, God helps those who help themselves.” We all know this beyond God helping us. and so, we shouldn’t make this a nine-day wonder,” he added.
Prof. Mensah expressed concern that Ghana’s democratic dispensation had, in some ways, weakened the culture of self-responsibility.
“As a country, our democracy has made us loose the self-responsibility that we had. Growing up, we used to build our own toiletsbut now we are waiting for government to come and build toilets for us,” he noted.
He charged LGS staff to lead the change by keeping their offices, homes and communities cleansed regularly.
“As we come to work, it is our responsibility every now and then to take this as an exercise that we will be doing regularly and we must pass it on to our generations,” he added.
Prof. Mensah subsequently joined OHLGS staff to participate in the National Flood Aftermath Clean-Up Exercise declared by President John Dramani Mahama for 10 and 11 July 2026 in the seven flood-affected regions, under the theme “Our Actions, Our Future: Cleaning Ghana after the floods.”
The exercise focused on desilting of drains, clearing debris, and cleaning markets, lorry parks and public spaces to prevent future floods and disease outbreaks.
The Local Government Service reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the exercise and to promoting a culture of good environmental sanitation across all 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.