An Nkawie Circuit Court presided over by His Lordship Michael Abbey has sentenced 48-year old Mohammad Lufai, to 24 months in jail for stealing a dustbin belonging to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly.

The accused person Mohammed Lufai was on September 22, 2018 arrested by Suame District Police Command for stealing dustbins meant for the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) under the auspices of “Operation Keep The City Clean And Green”.

Eva Amoateng who is a KMA night sweeper, spotted Mohammed Lufai carrying the dustbin on that day around 6:30pm and confronted him.

Mohammed Lufai. Credit: Mynewsgh.com
Source: UGC
Mohammed Lufai broke down in tears after pleading guilty when the charge was leveled against him but told the court he found the dustbin on a dumping site.

Police Prosecutor Inspector Stephen Amugbel told the court that stealing of KMA dustbins had become rampant making the Assembly's "Operation Keep The City Clean And Green” unsuccessful.

Stephen Amugbel told the court to prosecute the accused person to serve as a deterrent to those whose actions were affecting KMA's aim of making Kumasi a clean city.

His Lordship Michael Abbey, however sentenced the accused person, Mohammed Lufai, to 2 years imprisonment with hard labour indicating it would serve as a deterrent to others

The Convener for KMA Environmental Sub-Committee, James Nana Prempeh, in an interview said the Assembly was happy with the judgement saying it was going to be a lesson for those sabotaging the exercise.

James Nana Prempeh revealed that 10 out of 500 dustbins placed at some vantage points in the metropolis had been stolen.

According to him the Assembly was putting measures in place to establish a sanitation court to deal with sanitation offenders.

“We have declared war on those whose attitude is affecting our aim of making Kumasi a clean city. I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Nkawie Circuit Court for the judgement. We will continue to prosecute sanitation offenders to ensure that our aim has been achieved” he added.