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The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Julius Debrah, has said that heads of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies will be made to sign performance contracts with the ministry to ensure that the objectives of the National Sanitation Day (NSD) are achieved. The minister made this known during a visit to the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Dr. Opoku Onyinah and the CEO of MTN, a mobile telephony company, in Accra yesterday. The local government minister explained that the signing of the contract by the heads of the MMDAs was to make them accountable for events during the monthly clean-up exercises. Mr. Julius Debrah continued that fallouts from the maiden NSD, which took place last week and news paper reports revealed a couple of shortfalls most of which centred on uncollected heaps of refuse at various places. The minister assured that it had received such observations in good faith and was hopeful that the subsequent NSD exercises would see a greater improvement. He added that the emphasis is to restore the country to its proper image as a beacon of hope for Africa in all disciplines, adding that never again should the country experience cholera or the outbreak of any epidemic. Apostle Dr. Opoku Onyinah said it was unfortunate that Ghana had been classified among the ten dirtiest countries of the world. The chairman continued that the unenviable ranking was a wake-up call for individuals and policy directors to sit up and seriously tackle issues bordering on sanitation, adding that �it is a clarion call to visit the best practices of the past.� The man of God sited instances in Rwanda and Zambia where very strict enforcement of sanitation practices had become part and parcel of the attitude of the citizens thereby making that country very neat. Apostle Dr. Opoku Onyinah assured the minister of the church�s support and involvement in the NSD, and pointed out that the church would pursue programmes that would make the members cherish cleanliness at all times. The chairman also called for the inclusion of sanitation as a subject in the school curriculum so that children would grow with it. The Corporate Services Manager for MTN, Cynthia Lumor, said sanitation is a core vision of the company. She maintained that MTN was already engaged in a number of interventions which seek among other things, to make the environment tidy at all times. Mrs. Lumor mentioned the recycling of waste as one of its sustainable projects initiatives and assured the minister of an unwavering collaboration between them to help rid the country of filth, as the company encourages behavioural change among Ghanaians.