Accra is said to be one of the dirtiest capitals in Africa. This assessment is a disgrace to a nation which spearheaded the modern movement for independence and pride in Africa. The successful “Clean Ghana Now” campaign to mark World Environment Day on June 5 should, therefore, gladden the hearts of proud Ghanaians.
I was particularly pleased to see the Vice President shovelling dirt out of choked drains with youthful exuberance and the work ethic smile reminiscent of the Cape Coast gentleman of old pottering round the garden in his well-cut trousers elegantly supported by custom-made braces.
The participation of many high personalities in the campaign should help the cause of making Ghana clean. The forum on sustainable waste management to be held at La should not be a talking shop but a serious meeting where concrete measures would be taken to turn waste into a valuable resource. Dr Alfred Vanderpuye, the “mayor” of Accra, and other local authorities to be assembled should be tasked to take action and raise the necessary resources to manage waste. Pressures should not be placed on them not to do what is necessary because of opposition from ignorant party supporters.
Measures may have to be taken which cause inconvenience or business loss to some citizens, but we cannot get rid of all the unnecessary filth and waste if we insist on doing things as we have been doing wrongly for the past 50 years. If we have to ban the manufacture, sale and use of plastic bags over a time frame, as Rwanda has done, we should do so. There were no plastic bags in my youth and we could parcel our “plantain and groundnuts” well when that was our lunch in the office when things were hard.
But I believe some plastic bags are degradable and we may use them provided we recycle them. In many progressive countries, there are different containers for the collection of bottles, newspapers, etc. from houses. We should begin our waste management by separating the collection of waste.
Fortunately, I can still take a wee drum to oil the throat at meal time. Apart from local beer, however, I do not know where to send the empty bottles.
But apart from all the good measures which should be taken by the authorities not much can be done without discipline; not much can be done if the rules are not enforced.
We the people should be disciplined enough to not throw plastic bag filled with refuse into the drains designed to carry water into the river or sea. Doing this aids floods. We should send refuse to the designated spots. We should not urinate into the gutters or drains and we should not throw faeces bagged in plastic bags into drains or open spaces. This is the way to stop the spread of cholera.
And if we the people are not disciplined and infringe the rules which help to keep the environment clean, we should be dealt with severely. Those caught infringing the rules should be dealt with according to law. They should be tried and jailed as appropriate. They should be disgraced.
Because of this latter “punishment,” citizens do not report on neighbours, especially relations. When we know those who throw human excreta around, we should report them. Such action, and not prayer, can keep cholera away.
Authority should be firm and enforce the rules. The city and town authorities should employ people to guard known places of malfeasance and apprehend culprits.
Such employees should be properly resourced and should have mobile phones to take pictures of those who mess the environment and to ask for support when necessary.
Such community officials should also report on excessive noise, which is a problem in Accra. Incidentally, the people in the villages have rules on noise, which are obeyed.
Clean environment cannot be maintained without discipline; discipline by the people and by authority which should enforce the rules and regulations and which should itself be disciplined.
Authority should not organise followers so that it can win election and take all the “goodies.” Government should seek power to change economic and social conditions for a better country and not to enhance personal well-being. Naturally, there may be others who may want to build a better Ghana by other measures or methods. The parties need not be so different and our Constitution requires government to complete the good plans of their predecessors.
In fact, if the aim of government is the wellbeing of the governed, it would have a plan which would not be violently different from that of its opponents. Furthermore, it would not be difficult to have a citizen who may belong to the other party but who may be invited for an assignment for which he or she is particularly qualified and endowed.
I live at Palm Wine Junction La and I use the Burma Camp-Trade Fair road a lot. It is being widened and when completed would make motor journeys much more pleasant for me. Similarly, with Nkrumah Circle. I use it a lot but I avoid it at the moment because of the good work being done to make passage through it much much better.
But strange enough I am much against both roads being improved upon now. Food and cocoa in parts of the country cannot be conveyed to the appropriate centres because of very bad roads. Some of these roads can be improved by a fraction of the cost of improving the Burma Camp and Nkrumah Circle roads which have led to costly demolitions.
Are we incapable of planning and taking decisions which would improve the lot of the poor today and help export cocoa to earn the dollars which would enable us to improve the economy now and enhance the movement on the Burma Camp and Nkrumah Circle roads later?
Presently, political parties are constrained to do their best to remain in power and when they get there they keep harsh realities away from the people while they try to make them happy to vote for them and forget real development.
No amount of sharing the fruits of office will change the situation. Citizens will come together to clear the environment, which poses a nightmare. But the discipline to really manage waste and the economy will not be established so long as political office means self, ethnic and party advancement and not the promotion of social and moral values.
