A trader, Madam Patience Pomaa, has been fined GH¢2,400 or, in default, sentenced to one month in prison by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Sanitation Court for refusing to participate in the National Sanitation Day exercise.

Madam Pomaa was convicted on Thursday, 4th December 2025, after eventually pleading guilty to charges of refusing to take part in the mandatory clean-up exercise and disregarding a statutory notice issued by Environmental Health Officers.

According to the facts presented in court by the Prosecutor, Nii Okine Aryee, a team of Environmental Health Officers, who were on their usual monitoring rounds, on 10th October 2025, a day the government had set aside for the National Sanitation Day exercise observed that Madam Pomaa had failed to join the exercise and subsequently issued her with a statutory notice. This was later followed by a formal court summons.

In delivering the conviction, the magistrate, Her Worship Mrs. Rosemond Vera Aryeetey stressed that the National Sanitation Day exercise was not optional, but an obligation placed on all residents and that everyone needed to participate in the clean-up activities.

The court held that failure to join the exercise undermined efforts to keep communities clean and could contribute to poor environmental sanitation, stressing that neglecting such civic responsibilities could have serious public health consequences, including outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhoea, malaria and other communicable illnesses.

Speaking after the judgement, Head of Public Affairs at the AMA, Mr. Gilbert Nii Ankrah disclosed that at her first appearance before the AMA Sanitation Court, on 14th October 2025, Madam Pomaa pleaded not guilty and was granted bail in the sum of GH¢2,000 with one surety adding that case proceeded to trial, during which the investigating officer, Ms. Rukaya Agenga presented evidence to the court confirming that the trader had not taken part in the National Sanitation Day exercise.

He said that based on the evidence, Madam Pomaa later admitted that she did not participate in the exercise and changed her plea from not guilty to guilty.

Reacting to the judgement, the Head of Metro Public Health, Madam Florence Kuukyi, reiterated the Assembly’s commitment to strictly enforcing sanitation and public health regulations to ensure a clean, safe, and healthy environment for all residents within the metropolis.

The Department, she noted, would continue to work with the courts and stakeholders to ensure full community participation in future National Sanitation Day Exercises and other sanitation initiatives.