Private filth and public cleaning
I did not participate in the National Sanitation Day. I had a funeral I had to attend, but I suspect I would still not have participated even if I did not have a funeral or some other good reason.
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I am embarrassed that Ghana finds itself in the situation where we the citizens find it acceptable that the President of the Republic has to be photographed cleaning gutters. I am embarrassed that the Vice-President of the Republic has to be photographed clearing rubbish from a school compound and I am embarrassed that we are being encouraged to find such theatre something to be proud of.
I do not understand why we no longer talk about not littering, not making our surroundings dirty, and all the talk is about cleaning and doing that once in a while. If it is a normal and acceptable practice for people to throw out rubbish from commercial vehicles and private cars, our surroundings will always be dirty no matter how many sanitation days we organise in a year.
If people are allowed to sell sachet water and other foods wrapped in plastic on the streets, there will be plastic bags on the streets and on the trees. If there are no rubbish bins in street corners that law-abiding citizens can put their rubbish in, the city will be engulfed in filth, no matter how many sanitation days we organise. I recall that thousands of rubbish bins were installed on the streets of Accra in the year 2005 and within months, they were all stolen. There was no public outrage.
I have seen and heard it put across that the local assemblies should employ people or better still, give contracts to companies who would clean up the frontage of our houses. I have sat among “dignitaries” on a podium at a big function in this country and before long, the red carpet was covered with toffee wrappers and gum.
‘Public health is personal health’
I have tried to shame a young man who dropped an empty sachet on the pavement on the Graphic Road and all I got back from him was a snarl asking if the pavement was my house. I got the distinct impression from those who were around during the incident that I was stepping out of line. You don’t go around telling people not to put their litter on the street.
If we allow townships to spring up where people live in structures without toilets, there will be regular cholera outbreaks. If we allow the idea to take root that it is the responsibility of some creature called government to clean up after us, we shall be engulfed by filth, no matter how many sanitation days we organise. If someone is expected to clean up after us all the time, we must be prepared to pay good money for the service.
I do not litter. I can testify that those around me do not litter. If each of us can make such a pledge, we shall be making a start towards defeating the filth problem that we have. As the public health practitioners tell us all the time, public health is very much dependent on personal health. In much the same way, personal cleanliness goes a long way towards ensuring public cleanliness.
I can possibly understand the need for a national day of cleaning to try and get rid of the mountains of rubbish and filth that have piled up, but to institutionalise the monthly national cleaning seems to be an acceptance that we shall always be engulfed in filth. Are we being told that the way to keep our nation clean is for all citizens to participate in a national drama?
By getting the President and the Vice President into the act, the organisers make it obvious that this was a public relations enterprise and it did not work. I would much rather our President spent his time doing things other than cleaning gutters and if he had some free time, he might just take a rest to clear his mind.
Large scale charade
The stories that have emerged from that day have convinced me my instincts were right that I should not be part of a large scale charade. What is one to make of the video of the encounter between the Municipal Chief Executive(MCE) of Accra and the driver of a commercial vehicle? The MCE obviously did not think he should be cleaning the streets and that was why he behaved so abominably towards the poor driver. And is it normal practice for an MCE to give orders to police officers and for a police officer to meekly do the bidding of the MCE? I wonder what has happened to the driver and what charge, if any has been preferred against him. I wonder if the MCE should not be facing a charge of assault or at the very minimum, be making a public apology to the driver.
I have also noticed that much of the silt that was taken out of the gutters on that day has remained by the roadside and is going back into the gutters with every rainfall. This is a tragic waste of everybody’s time.
I drove behind a car on the evening of the sanitation day and twice, someone threw out rubbish from the car. Obviously, no lessons had been learnt from the day.
I am also curious to find out if there was a cost to the public purse. This being Ghana, I suspect the event had a budget and money was spent, and it would be a good idea to tell all of us how much money was spent and where it came from. If this is going to be a monthly undertaking, then it becomes even more important that we are told how much money is involved. And can there be a proper evaluation so we can tell if it is worth going on with it?
For the moment, I am keeping well out of this.