Can we ever get Accra Clean?

So I listened to the minister of information Hon.Kojo Oppong Nkrumah tell listeners on a morning show about how the president has a keen interest in getting Accra clean before 2020, and I watched how he gave all the measures that the government was taking to achieve that goal but what got me more forlorn is how all the measures which he gave will go an extent to solving a quarter of the filth found alone in central Accra but will not get us near the achievement of that goal of making Accra clean.

What our problem is as Ghanaians, is not asking women and men to sweep each morning and collect the rubbish and filth left on the streets but it is up to every stakeholder involved to be thought and brain trained to know that we citizens are the perpetrators of the menace of filth we have brought into the country let alone Accra being the most dangerous of the cities and our actions and behaviors have made our towns and cities filthy.

I live in Madina New road and my route to work and back is surrounded by so many elementary schools but I have seen school children drink sachet water and immediately dump the rubber sachet unto the grounds, roads and pavements without any sense of remorse, guilt or the conscience of being responsible not to do that, so I can say for a fact that it is not people sweeping during Sanitation days or normal working day alone that is going to solve this problem. I have been to University lecture halls that are flooded with filth all over so it’s not about just sweeping and collecting rubbish but education and taking actions like punishing people in traffic etc. are some of the measures we need in this country which will help.

I in particular drink my water and put the sachet into my bag when am in a moving bus but every time I witness human beings dump their rubbish just anywhere even not into the moving bus but rather unto the streets I become agitated and sometimes fight them. I can’t blame them all the time, because where will they drop the rubbish they have made, there is no place designated for that on a section of our streets because I have seen some waste bins in the Tema metropolis but not here in Madina, American House, Bawuleshie, Madina New road and Old road, Atomic, Frafraha and Adenta, to mention a few , so I cannot generalize all the cities but I can say for a fact the moving from UPSA to Shiashe, or from Adenta to Shiashe , there is not a single bin for people to dump their rubbish inside, thus the streets and pavements has served as a waste dumping site instead of real waste bins that ought to be placed at designated places by our roads.

The bus stop in front of gulf house is even worse because there are no bins to drop rubbish, passengers waiting to board cars drink water and drop it there on the pavement , people drop corn husk as well as empty yoghurt sachet among others unto the pavement because there are no waste bins at this vantage point. It has also been noted that some people bring their home waste and dump it into this public waste bins that may have stopped Sanitation agents from getting us bins by the road sides but I believe that placing them with cautions signaling punishments for people who pour waste from their homes might help and indeed using some people as scapegoats will be a plus to stop this barbaric act.

Also the minister in charge of sanitation must take it upon his ministry that there is an alarming need for them to go back to the grassroots and teach school going children that they have a sense of obligation to keep not only their immediate environment clean but must ensure that even on the streets and communities, necessity is laid on them to be watchdogs against their mates or elders who cause harm by littering the environment and it is wrong and unlawful to litter the environment.

People just drop anything anywhere, in the gutters, unto the streets anyhow. It is high time we start from that place where every school engaged their students in activities that will make them guilty of littering the environment, and the ministry placing waste bins at all vantage points. We also seek that civic education will educate citizens on filth and the Municipal Assemblies will not only wake up when there is an outbreak of Cholera but will go back to those times when town councils were sent all around even into our kitchens and washrooms ensuring that every house was clean enough to prevent diseases associated with filth.

Please educate market women to ensure that the market is clean at all times and not only when it’s been swept early in the morning or at night when the market has been closed. It’s an eye saw to see that a place where we buy edible items is stocked and piled on filth, filth everywhere and the pungent smell emanating from our markets is horrible because even when the waste is collected, it sits at the site for days before waste management company responsible for it comes to clear it.

How do we not expect to get outbreaks from this attitude? Please I plead with the minister in charge of Sanitation to ask the Teachers to teach the children about filth, the Market leaders to engage the women on filth and ask them to place waste bins at 100 meters intervals and to direct people to it, charge the spiritual leaders to question the cleanliness of their members, municipal authorities to reintroduce town councils (what the children usually say “Tankas “ is coming, lets hide), the drivers to warn passengers against dropping things unto the roads and the Ministry to place waste bins with covers to be placed at all vantage points. I believe that if we start from there, then we can really get somewhere for a fact and it may help curb some of this filthy acts instead of just coming together to sweep and clean during sanitation days or sweeping off the filth each day as people continue to drop all the times because they will not be punished in littering and messing up our surroundings.