Three residents of Walewale in the North East Region have been fined a combined GH¢12,300 by the Walewale District Court following sanitation violations uncovered during the National Sanitation Day exercise held on March 7, 2026.
Environmental health officers from the West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly were conducting house-to-house inspections that Saturday when they discovered a property with serious hygiene deficiencies, including a gutter overflowing with wastewater that was draining directly into the street and affecting neighbouring properties.
The officers documented the violations and the matter was subsequently referred for prosecution. The court, presided over by a magistrate, found the three residents liable and imposed the financial penalties.
The ruling comes weeks after the same March 7 exercise produced a separate and widely reported incident in which sanitation officers were verbally assaulted by occupants of another household in the Naayiri Fong electoral area during the same enforcement patrol. The West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly had vowed at the time to pursue legal action against the assailants and warned that no violations would go unpunished.
Municipal Environmental Health Officer Faustinus Anchaba had said following the assault incident that enforcement of sanitation standards in Walewale would continue without compromise. “The law must take its course,” he stated, adding that justice serves as a critical deterrent against future hostility toward sanitation personnel.
Saturday’s court fines mark a concrete step in that direction, signalling that the Assembly is following through on its commitment to use legal mechanisms to address persistent sanitation non-compliance in the municipality.
Walewale has for several years faced challenges with waste management and resistance from sections of the public to enforcement measures. The Assembly has enacted bylaws targeting littering, illegal dumping, and open defecation, and has repeatedly called on residents to treat public health enforcement as a shared civic responsibility.
