The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly has announced a renewed crackdown on sanitation offences, with Mayor Richard Ofori Agyemang-Boadi saying a more aggressive enforcement operation will be rolled out from July to ensure strict compliance with environmental regulations.

He said the initiative will involve joint teams made up of city authorities, police and military personnel conducting community-by-community sanitation exercises, with offenders to be immediately processed and taken to court.

The announcement was made on Sunday (7 June), during a thanksgiving ceremony marking the 70th birthday of Rev. Ransford Obeng, the General Overseer of the Calvary Charismatic Centre (CCC) in Kumasi.

“As soon as we arrest people from the neighborhoods, at 11 o’clock we move them straight to court and we prosecute them,” Agyemang-Boadi said.

The Mayor, popularly known as King Zuba, said the enforcement drive forms part of broader efforts to improve sanitation and reduce flooding risks in Kumasi.

He explained that authorities have already intensified prosecutions, with about 26 people taken to court for sanitation-related offences, but said more stringent measures were needed to instil discipline.

Alongside the enforcement campaign, he said the Assembly had stepped up dredging of major waterways ahead of the rainy season.

He listed areas currently under dredging as Atafoa, Asokore Mampong, and the Akwatia Line–WAEC stretch, noting that work would continue as long as necessary to improve drainage flow.

“When the water doesn’t get access, it finds its own way and brings about flooding,” he said, stressing the importance of clearing waterways to prevent rainwater from overflowing into communities.

Kumasi, Ghana’s second-largest city, has in recent years grappled with recurrent flooding, often linked to poor drainage, waste disposal challenges and encroachment on waterways.