The rains are at our doorstep once again. And guess what? The filth and ugly nature of our capital city, the indiscriminate litter attitude we live with, have all been laid bare once again as choked drains belch out the excesses of plastic and other waste.
To make the situation worse, in some parts of Accra West, our domestic garbage has not been cleared the whole of June and now we are in the first week of July. Is this the mark of a clean city in waiting?
Disappointingly too, the waste management department of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) continues to be of great dis-service to our city and its inhabitants. Apart from not containing the filth in public spaces, we do not see any plan in place for consistent collection and disposal of solid waste from homes and communities in general.
No one is telling us anything when for weeks some communities have not had their domestic garbage cleared, yet, this is a service that users pay for. We do not see any developments happening in our communities with gaping potholes on roads leading to our homes and offices. We buy our own poles and bulbs to lighten our streets to reduce crime. And yet, we pay rates dutifully to the Assembly.
But pondering over why AMA keeps abandoning its duties, I have also been wondering whether they are oblivious to the bold statement made by our President when he met with some Ga Chiefs at the beginning of the year. If they care to be reminded, the President has said with so much conviction that during his time, he will make Accra the cleanest city not in Ghana, not in West Africa, but in Africa as a continent.
Daunting but perhaps not impossible. Sweet as the pronouncements of the President are, the rains have come in the year of the pronouncements and what do we see? Gaping exposure of the filth and neglect that we continue to live with coupled with the inefficiencies of people paid to manage our domestic waste. I am in two minds and I am beginning to feel the tall order in the President’s statement if those responsible for keeping the city clean do not use the raining season as a reference point and jump to the task now.
There is no doubt that making Accra the cleanest city in the whole of the African continent lies squarely with the Mayor of Accra and by extension, the Minister for Local Government. If they move speedily and consistently provide communities with efficient schedules for waste collection from homes and commercial locations, including our market places, we would not have rubbish spillovers with vultures dancing over our heads. We would have clean communities and hence a clean capital city with parks and gardens in all corners.
If they up their game and give orders backing them with action, Accra would be clean and tidy with no room for street hawkers and beggars to operate on our streets. Street hawking alone no doubt generates tons of garbage every day. The practice has destroyed beautiful lawns and flower beds intentionally planted to give beauty to our ceremonial roads and streets as hawkers run or walk over them.
If there is no selling on pavements in Accra, that all choked drains are distilled and strict sanctions are applied without fear or favour, we would make good progress and showcase a cleaner city in the whole of Africa way before the president’s anticipated target time.
For a really true clean city and country, our local government system must run and run efficiently. We need for all the local Assemblies throughout the country to reintroduce the concept of sanitary inspectors, popularly known as “Samasaman,” who would not fail in their duties to police communities and ensure that no home leaves their surroundings unkempt and garbage are cleared on weekly basis. They should be empowered to fine households and individuals who litter indiscriminately.
The President might mean well when he made the statement of a clean city and he should not be let down by our local government authorities. Those who have travelled far and near know that clean cities, towns and hamlets are the key responsibilities of local governments. They are the custodians of the sanitation by-laws of a country and they have to see to their enforcement.
The underlying factor in the kind of filth that has engulfed our cities and towns, we all know, are as a result of the uncontrolled indiscipline and the lawlessness we face everywhere one turns. The unpleasant and unacceptable attitudes where people behave anyhow, anywhere are killing otherwise a beautiful society like ours.
Our world today is plastic crazy. Almost everything we consume or use, whether in the home or outside the home are plastic related. Meanwhile, we have not been able to establish ways and means to dispose of such plastics. The result is the indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste all around us. By this time our district assemblies should have put in place mechanisms to collect plastic waste separate from all other solid waste.
The way filth keeps knocking at our doors, there is everything to believe that our waste management has completely failed us and it is time we looked elsewhere to get our cities and towns rid of filth. How can households go for weeks with rubbish not collected? In the past, such actions and inactions have fed into lawlessness with people dumping their waste into open drains and other unapproved locations.
I see the President’s dream and firm promise of a clean Accra, a darling city of Africa becoming a reality only if the Minister for Local Government is handed with specific time-bound targets on good sanitation, gradual coverage of open drains, removal of unauthorised structures defacing the city, absolute cleanliness in communities and especially in public and ceremonial places and of course, hawker free streets. She is at liberty to share her targets with the Assemblies. But as far as we are concerned as citizens, she owes us the duty of a clean and beautiful city and her boss a fulfilled promise.
If we should remind her, a clean city means open defecation outlawed. It further means indiscriminate urination anywhere and anyhow must attract strict and enforceable fines. Street hawking and selling on pavements must be tackled at all fronts as never done before. Examples must be set with offenders being sent to mortuaries to clean dead bodies. How I strongly believe this kind of punishment would curb indiscipline and lawlessness in the abuse of our environment.
Enforcement of law and order, commitment of the AMA to take up the task and run with it, are definitely the sure ways to get Accra tidy and clean. Those paid to put systems in place, including rubbish collection without fail, should not go to sleep but ensure close supervision that would make the systems operate to perfection. AMA should not let the side down.
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