Gov’t, Church Unite to Clean Ghana – Deputy Chief of Staff

Story by Fada Amakye

Government has praised the Christian Council of Ghana for “rising to meet the nation at its urgent point of need” through its new environmental and volunteer programs, with Deputy Chief of Staff Nana Oye Bampoe Addo pledging the full solidarity of Chief of Staff Julius Debrah.

Speaking at a multi-event launch organized by the Christian Council in Accra, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo said she could not miss the occasion after the Council’s leadership visited the Office of the President last week.

“Chief of Staff, Honorable Julius Debrah, has asked me to express his full solidarity with this very important launch,” she said. “I was highly impressed, highly energized, and genuinely moved by what was discussed on environmental care and the cleanliness program, the National Volunteers Program, the study guides and the memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Local Government.

Nana Oye Bampoe Addo said the Christian Council’s latest initiatives show the body of Christ is stepping into critical gaps. “This is the body of Christ under the Council rising to meet the nation at its urgent point of need,” she stated.

She recalled that the Christian Council was formed in 1929, nearly a century ago, when five churches united with “a simple but powerful conviction to work together on issues of social concern and to be the voice of the voiceless.

Since then, she said, the Council has been at the very center of Ghana’s national life — “not only from the pulpit, not only through evangelism and national prayer, but now through concrete action on sanitation.”

Referencing the 2026 Pentecost Month theme, “A Clean Environment, Our Responsibility,” the Deputy Chief of Staff said President John Dramani Mahama recognizes environmental stewardship as more than a policy matter. “It is a moral issue,” she said.

She noted that President Mahama relaunched National Sanitation Day on September 6, 2025, and the Christian Council’s decision to take it up is “very remarkable, because it is a shared responsibility that requires collective action from individuals, from churches, from mosques, from communities and from institutions.

“The President reminded us that whether you are Christian, Muslim, or a believer in traditional religion, all faiths uphold one truth — that cleanliness is next to godliness. You cannot be a godly person and live in filth,” she said.

Nana Oye Bampoe Addo said local volunteer groups, including the Buz Stop Boys, have been commended for their patriotism and equipped to work alongside local assemblies to keep public places clean. She added that President Mahama has directed that District Chief Executives who fail to enforce sanitation in their areas will be held accountable.

“It is very heartwarming and deeply progressive to see the Christian Council partner with the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs on this specific program,” she said. “This partnership is a loud testimony to what deeper collaboration between church, executive leadership under His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, and local structures can produce when they work together hand in hand.

She stressed that when church and government move with one purpose, “the impact reaches every single corner of society. It reaches the churches, it reaches homes, it reaches communities. It reaches markets in ways that neither can achieve alone. This is exactly the kind of collaborative effort that is building a better Ghana, and we demand this at every single level.”

On illegal mining, the Deputy Chief of Staff said government has taken “bold, sustained actions.” Water bodies and forest reserves have been declared security zones. The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat, NAIMOS, is conducting coordinated raids across the Western, Western North and other regions, “dismantling illegal mining sites and arresting those who are financing this destruction.

She added that the Environmental Protection Authority has established and operationalized 50 new district and area offices across Ghana over the past 15 months, decentralizing environmental compliance and enforcement.

Nana Oye Bampoe Addo said the partnership with the Christian Council will strengthen public education and mobilization.

“A nation that prays together, that submits its leadership to the Almighty God, stands on a strong, firm, united foundation,” she said, quoting earlier remarks by the Minister for Local Government, Ibrahim Ahmed.