Sunyani, June 19, GNA – The Sunyani staff of MTN Ghana, a mobile telecommunication provider, through its corporate social investment arm, the MTN Ghana Foundation, on Monday undertook a clean-up exercise in the central business district (CBD) of Sunyani.
The four-hour exercise, which lasted from 08:00 hours to 12:00 hours, formed part of its annual ’21 Days of Yellow Care Brief 2018-Edition’.
The exercise involved the desilting of choked gutters, sweeping the streets, weeding and clearing of plastic materials.
The ’21 Days of Yellow Care’ campaign is an employee volunteerism initiative launched by MTN Ghana in 2007 and aims to secure high participation by staff and partners within their local communities.
The objectives of the campaign are to « make a visible and sustained contribution to the societies in which the company operates », « provide an opportunity for the company’s staff and partners to actively contribute to community development and be inspired by giving back ».
It is also « to create positive associations with the MTN brand by demonstrating the willingness of the company’s staff to get involved and do good », « profile MTN and its partners as a caring corporate citizens » and « highlights MTN and its partners commitment to corporate social investment ».
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency after the exercise, on the 2018 theme of the campaign, « Creating a Brighter Future », Mr. Michael Amengor, the Territory Sales Controller of MTN, Brong-Ahafo, said « across our markets » youth unemployment has been a core socio-economic challenge that governments were actively seeking to address whilst « recognising the value of digital infrastructure as enabler ».
The programme has therefore been identified as an opportunity to introduce « Youth Empowerment » initiatives in support of government efforts in countries MTN operates.
On the immediate significance of the clean-up exercise, Mr. Amengor said plastics could be recycled and used to produce T’shirts, saying that, all the MTN yellow T’shirts the staff and partners wore to undertake the event was made from recycled plastic waste.
He said plastic waste recycling was « a big » job opportunity for the jobless and the company was using that to create awareness on job-creation for the unemployed, especially the youthful population.
Mr. Amengor said the exercise was significant health-wise since the choked gutters could have bred mosquitoes and also a poor sanitation can cause diseases like cholera.
It was also a call on residents of Sunyani and other communities to embark on such exercise regularly to enjoy its associated benefits like checking and prevention of flooding.
