Still Groping In Filth

The nation's capital is still not wearing the neat garb we expect it to do. Pockets of filth still feature largely in most parts of the nation's capital. Being the façade of the country, we cannot continue to allow the appalling and filthy status quo to prevail.

It was auspicious to hear the president talk about plans to make Accra the neatest city in Africa. When those characteristics of neatness envelope the city, one day we would clap and say truly the president and Ghanaians, especially Accra residents, have cooperated adequately to make a dream come true.

A few days ago, we heard rather worryingly that an outbreak of cholera in some parts of the country was imminent. We do hope that following the pressing of the alarm button, the public health authorities have rolled out measures to nip such an outbreak in the bud.

For how long shall we rely on luck to manage our public health issues? Our gutters continue to be repositories of tons of domestic waste and faecal matter in the slums of the nation's capital and nobody appears to be interested in intervening.

Nobody wants to be seen to be leading campaigns for changes in society. They fear being regarded as insensitive to the plights of their compatriots, especially since such actions can affect the political future of persons directly in charge of such issues.

In a society where such fears hold sway, positive changes that could bring about new ways of managing community hygiene and waste management would be difficult or even impossible to exact.

The new chief executive officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has a lot to do and he would have to bring the people along with plans to instill discipline in the various parts of the nation's capital. Periodic engagement with the people in places where indiscipline is more prominent and therefore making it difficult for residents to abide by bylaws is advised.

Leadership of churches and mosques must be encouraged to join a new crusade to rid the city of filth. We have observed people still littering the environment which supports their livelihood in a manner which beats imagination. Such persons require some encouragement be rid of such uncouth conduct.

Eventually though, we are not ruling out the application of the appropriate bylaws just so recalcitrant residents would be brought in line.

Now that the Ghana Health Service has issued an Ebola alert in the country, isn't it time to change our ways and avoid taking things for granted and think we are special creatures of God and so beyond contracting contagious diseases?

We have learnt about the possible reintroduction of the uniformed sanitary inspectors, in the mould of the colonial and early post-independence days when 'sama sama' and their strict application of the bylaws and prosecution in special courts set up for the purpose was dreaded.

One of the challenges of the colonial administration was the poor hygiene of the colony, hence their adoption of draconian measures to compel people to abide by existing bylaws and it worked.

Records exist to show how disease outbreaks in the colonial era were attributed to poor hygienic conditions and how it was the application of the bylaws that obliterated these.

Something must be done to ensure that waste management receives the necessary boost. Currently, there are backlogs of uncollected domestic garbage in some households – a situation which compels residents to dump garbage in already choked gutters.