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Arien Specter has noted that, �there is nothing more important than our good health. That is our principal capital asset.� Therefore, when we are encouraged to fight filth and dysfunctional waste management practices, that must be embraced by all. The National Sanitation Day must not be toyed with at all. We should equally not make fetish out of it since its essence is more ephemeral and transient. The point is that there will be only one such day in the month and even if it becomes a permanent feature, and we do not learn to effectively and efficiently manage waste, we will continue to be overwhelmed by filth. The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, impacted on the last exercise in the Ashanti Region, bringing to the fore intrinsic values of chieftaincy and traditional leadership on national development and mobilisation. No wonder it has been widely reported that the exercise in Kumasi in particular was a success. But there were two developments that have exercised me and which could undermine the voluntariness of the day. One of the issues is the call for legislation to make the day mandatory or compulsory. The other is an appeal made by some traders in Tema to have theirs on Fridays instead of Saturdays and the reaction of the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE). Those calling for legislation to make the day compulsory seem to be suggesting that it is only when the day is backed by law that it would make an impact. Making a voluntary act coercive is a sure way to kill the spirit of voluntarism. That will have no basis in selfless devotion to a national cause. Many of us clean our environment and pay our sanitation levies. The authorities are to ensure that the environment is maintained in a friendly manner. The government is supposed to release funds to assemblies on timely basis. That has nothing to do with volumes. Most of the statutory payments have been clearly defined. So, if the government reneges on the release of funds to the assemblies to do their work and, therefore, refuse gets out of hand, why should we compel citizens to clear the mess instead of appealing to their conscience to appreciate the necessity to do so. What should we do to public officials, including district, municipal and metropolitan chief executives and ministers of state, when they fail in their basic responsibilities. We should not condone impunity and unilateral acts such as harassing drivers or traders to take part against their will. The day is a national exercise aimed at inculcating civic activism and voluntarism in our people. Any attempts to make the day compulsory, even for an hour, will not only be misguided and ill-informed, but it could also erode selflessness from our people. Such rashness in the pursuit of policy has killed the spirit of communalism. For instance, an assembly was to construct a KVIP in a village. The chief and elders approached the assembly to plead that the village be given the money to construct the toilet facility since they had trained artisans for that purpose so that they would use the profit to continue with a school project. The District Chief Executive(DCE) flatly declined and the chief allowed the project to be awarded on contract. But that marked the end of communal labour on the school project as the villagers argued that if the government had money to award a toilet project, there must be money for a school project. With reference to the Tema incident, it was sad listening to the MCE argue that because it is a national day, we should all be involved in the activity on that day and not any other day. He went further to suggest that if, for instance, members of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) also decided that they wanted to carry out the sanitation on a day of their choice, the objective would be defeated. The plea of the women had been that they hold market on Saturdays. That is the only day of the week that they sell and, therefore, it will be prudent if they were allowed to organise their sanitation day on Fridays. If we are interested in a functional project rather than publicity, we should allow groups to choose the days they want to offer their services to their communities so that the activities become diffused and sustained rather than forcing everybody to be part of the activity on a single day. The National Sanitation Day is a healthy and positive development that must be used to strengthen communalism and promote a culture of cleanliness, not a means to kill voluntarism. Any compulsion will defeat the objectives for which the day was instituted.