Hundreds Turn Out for National Sanitation Day Exercise in Daboya

DABOYA, SAVANNAH REGION — Hundreds of residents of Daboya in the North Gonja District of the Savannah Region turned out in strong numbers on Saturday, October 3, 2026, for the latest National Sanitation Day exercise.

The exercise brought together community members, traditional authorities, security agencies and departmental heads to clean major parts of the district capital.

The initiative was organised by the North Gonja District Assembly, with participants converging at the Daboya Lorry Station before being deployed to various locations across the town.

Among the areas targeted were the Daboya Lorry Station and its choked drains, the Wasipe Wura's Palace, the Daboya Health Centre and adjoining streets and gutters.

Participants spent more than four hours clearing refuse, overgrown weeds and silt from gutters.

The exercise also involved personnel from the Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service and Ghana Immigration Service.

Assembly promises sustained sanitation effort

The Coordinating Director of the North Gonja District Assembly said the Assembly remained committed to maintaining a clean environment in Daboya and the wider district.

According to him, arrangements had been made to provide logistics, trucks and regular waste collection to prevent the town from returning to its previous sanitation conditions.

He appealed to residents to make sanitation a daily responsibility rather than treating it as an activity limited to National Sanitation Day.

The Assembly's position is particularly important because the challenge after communal clean-up exercises is often the continued disposal of waste in drains and other unauthorised locations.

Education authorities link sanitation to learning

The North Gonja District Director of Education, Kofi Odum Apatse, also stressed the importance of sanitation in schools and communities.

He encouraged teachers and pupils to become sanitation ambassadors and promote cleanliness beyond the school environment.

According to him, maintaining clean school environments can support effective teaching and learning while helping protect children's health.

Environmental Health Unit warns against indiscriminate dumping

The North Gonja District Environmental Health Officer, Ayuba Abdul Rahman, used the exercise to educate residents on the health risks associated with poor sanitation.

He linked choked gutters and stagnant water to mosquito breeding, while indiscriminate waste disposal can contribute to the spread of diseases through flies and contaminated food.

The Environmental Health Unit is also expected to intensify house-to-house inspections and enforcement of sanitation bye-laws.

Residents have been reminded of the requirement for households to keep their frontages clean and maintain their drains.

Traditional authority calls for discipline

Representing the Wasipe Wura Palace, Asafo Musah Mahama commended residents for their participation but cautioned against returning to indiscriminate waste disposal.

He urged residents to maintain the cleanliness achieved through the exercise and to treat proper waste disposal as a community responsibility.

Several tonnes of solid waste were reportedly collected during the exercise and transported to the Assembly's final disposal site.

Residents, however, called for more communal refuse containers and dustbins at strategic locations in Daboya, together with regular waste collection.

The appeal highlights an important issue for the sustainability of sanitation efforts: community participation must be matched with adequate waste-management infrastructure and consistent enforcement.

For Daboya, the challenge now is not simply completing another successful clean-up exercise, but maintaining the progress after the volunteers and officials leave.

Gonja Pulse will continue to monitor sanitation and community-development issues across the Savannah Region.