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The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has admonished citizens not to wait for the National Sanitation Day -- recently instituted by government -- before keeping their surroundings clean. Otumfuo Osei Tutu II who joined hundreds of Ghanaians to clean the streets of Kumasi and neighbouring cities Saturday, said government and its agencies should not be seen to be dictating when and how people must keep clean. He reminded the many volunteers taking part in the clean up exercise that it cost a lot of money to treat diseases, such as cholera, that come about as a result of poor sanitation. A nationwide clean up exercise dubbed National Sanitation Day took off Saturday November 1, to deal with deplorable sanitation in the country. Government hopes to repeat the exercise on the first Saturday of every month. The National Santitation Day, in Kumasi and other parts of the country, was characterized by mass clean up of streets, desilting of gutters in various suburbs, cities, towns and villages. President, John Mahama, his vice, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, Local Government Minister, Julius Debrah, chiefs and opinion leaders took part in the exercise. The Otumfuo said although the Kumasi Metropolitan Authority (KMA) is mandated to ensure the metropolis is clean, a clean environment is first and foremost a shared responsibility. Ghana a few months ago was ranked among top ten countries with very poor sanitaiton record by a United Nations report. This and a cholera outbreak that claimed hundreds of lives across the country prompted the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to institute the National Sanitation Day.