The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has fined a relative of the Mayor, Hon. Michael Kpakpo Allotey and five other food vendors a total of GH¢1,100 for operating during the September edition of the National Sanitation Day (NSD) exercise.

The six vendors, who were operating in Okaishie and in front of  UTC, Makola Mall, were fined after officials found them conducting business instead of participating in the sanitation exercise last Saturday.

Among those sanctioned was a kenkey seller who is a relative of the Mayor, a development he said was intended to demonstrate the Assembly’s resolve to enforce the sanitation directives without fear or favour.

Speaking during the exercise, Mayor Allotey said he had to use his relative as an example to show that nobody was above the law.

He said if the Mayor could sanction a member of his own family for breaching the sanitation directives, then residents with no relationship to him should equally expect to face the law when they failed to comply.

He noted that the action was meant to send a strong signal to traders, food vendors and residents to take the enforcement exercise seriously and desist from relying on personal relationships or connections to evade sanctions.

Mayor Allotey reiterated that the NSD exercise required the active participation of residents and businesses, adding that maintaining cleanliness in Accra was a shared responsibility.

He urged traders and food vendors to use the day to sweep and clean their immediate surroundings before commencing business.

He said the objective of the exercise was not only to sanction offenders but also to encourage behavioural change and make regular cleaning a responsibility of every resident and business operator.