The Walewale District Court has fined three residents a total of GHC12,300 for breaking municipal sanitation laws during the March 7, 2026 National Sanitation Day exercise.
The three individuals, Ali Zangbedow, Hawa Salifu (immigration officer), and Bouya Zangbedow were found guilty of three main charges:
1. Failing to participate in the National Sanitation Day clean-up exercise. This charge is brought under Section 2.5, subsection (b), and Section 2.8 of the West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly Bye-Laws of 2023.
2. Refusal to comply with a Notice served contrary to 3.3 subsection a&b of the West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly Bye-Laws 2023. The particulars of this offence state that the defendants, having been served a Mandatory Notice on the 7 of March, 2026, failed to comply with the directive by the assembly to address the nuisance.
3. Family members obstructed and verbally assaulted environmental health officers during the routine National Sanitation Day clean up exercise contrary to Section 33.10 of the West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly Bye-Laws 2023.
The court ordered each of the three persons to pay 100 penalty units for each of the three counts, plus a GHC500 compensation fee each to the Assembly. This brings the total penalty to GHC4,100 per person. In default, each person will face a one-month prison sentence.
Background
During the National Sanitation Day exercise on March 7, 2026 at Walewale, environmental health officers were patrolling the neighborhood when they discovered a house with poor sanitation, including a gutter with wastewater flowing into the street, which affected other neighbors.
Under the West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly Bye-Laws of 2023, this was considered a public nuisance that needed to be fixed immediately.
When the environmental health officers asked the occupants of the house- Ali Zangbedow, Hawa Salifu and Bouya Zangbedow to clean up the area. Instead of following the instructions, an immigration officer and other family members reportedly used offensive language against the environmental health officers and the situation nearly turned violent before local elders stepped in to calm things down.
The Municipal Chief Executive, Mohammed Rabbiu Jabba, condemned the attack. He argued that sanitation officers deserve the same respect as any other professionals and that the Assembly would not allow people to ignore the law or abuse public servants.
He promised that the Assembly would take the matter to court to ensure that the rules of the municipality are respected.
The West Mamprusi Municipal Environmental Health Officer Faustinus Anchamba, expressed his disapproval of the insults directed towards officers carrying out their duties, he also told journalists that, instances of verbal abuse faced by these environmental health officers are becoming too much.
Anchamba warned that if legal recourse is not pursued against those responsible for the abuse, he may be compelled to request a transfer from Walewale, fearing an escalation of such incidents if residents perceive that their actions will go unpunished.
Following this, the Assembly officially charged the three individuals with three specific offenses, failing to join the clean-up exercise, ignoring a formal notice to fix the sanitation issues and verbally assaulting public officers in line of duty.
By Solomon Kwame Kanaluwe
