Trader fined GH¢2,400 for skipping National Sanitation Day exercise
She was sentenced on Thursday, 4 December 2025, after pleading guilty to two offences: ignoring a statutory notice and refusing to join the mandatory communal clean-up.
A trader, Patience Pomaa, has been fined GH¢2,400 by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Sanitation Court for failing to take part in the National Sanitation Day clean-up exercise. In default of payment, she will serve one month in prison.
She was sentenced on Thursday, 4 December 2025, after pleading guilty to two offences: ignoring a statutory notice and refusing to join the mandatory communal clean-up.
Prosecutor Nii Okine Aryee told the court that Environmental Health Officers observed Madam Pomaa on 10 April 2025—a designated National Sanitation Day—refusing to participate in the exercise. She was later served with a statutory notice but failed to comply, prompting a formal summons to appear before the court.
Delivering judgment, Magistrate Her Worship Mrs Rosemond Vera Aryeetey stressed that National Sanitation Day is compulsory for all residents, not optional. She said non-compliance weakens collective efforts to keep communities clean and undermines broader environmental sanitation goals.
The magistrate also drew attention to the public health risks posed by poor sanitation, warning that neglect of basic cleanliness can fuel outbreaks of cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhoea, malaria and other communicable diseases.
