Keeping Ghana Clean: More Men or Strategies?

Keeping Ghana clean can’t happen through magic. We also don’t need more men/employees at the newly created Ministry of Sanitation to get rid of the filth engulfing the nation, as the sector Minister appears to be suggesting.

What we do need at the Ministry of Sanitation are clear-cut plans and strategies backed by research to get the job done. The Minister shouldn’t also lose sight of the fact that he needs the support of other governmental, non-governmental organizations, cooperate bodies, and the generality of Ghanaians to win this battle. Going solo (Sanitation Ministry alone) just can’t solve the problem.

Per the level we have gotten to with the filth situation, coupled with formed behaviour of Ghanaians over the period, the Sanitation Ministry may have to consider these few suggestions to dealing with the situation – my opinion:

1. Institute or put in place national behaviour change communication strategy for environmental sanitation.

The waste we see today didn’t fall from the sky overnight. The waste in major cities and towns emanated from people and homes, accumulate over a period. And these are people who have negative mindset about environmental cleanliness. There is something fundamentally wrong with the mindset of some Ghanaians when it comes to environmental sanitation. In order to get rid of waste we don’t have to underestimate the fact that we need to reorient the mindset of the very people who generate and dispose waste indiscriminately.

Media outlets and community organized durbars could be employed in communicating positive environmental health behaviours. I still remember our former Vice President, His Excellency Aliu Mahama’s (May his soul rest in Peace) campaign against indiscipline and indiscriminate urination in open places aired on our national televisions. It made impact over a period. We could do same for environmental sanitation. Students and teachers should also not be left out of any initiative on national environmental health behaviour change communication strategies. Students/pupils could play a huge role in helping to influence parents and guardians to adopting positive environmental health behaviours.

2. Provide the enabling environment for the necessary environmental sanitation behaviour change.

This is a basic principle required in dealing with situations like the one we have on our hands.

For example, it will be very difficult to change the health behaviour/mindset of a financially handicapped indiscriminate sex addict to practice safer sex, when he probably would be required to walk several miles to purchase condom from a chemical shop at a cost. It’s unrealistic. With a person like this, you will have to help create an environment that is conducive enough for him (say, easy access to condom and improving his economic conditions) to be able to adopt and sustain the intended positive health behaviour over a period. The scenario above somehow, is not different from the environmental sanitation challenge we are dealing with as a nation. One of the major factors accounting for improper disposal of waste in major cities and towns is because the environment in these areas have not been made favourable/conducive enough for people to adopt proper waste disposal practices.

Many households and new settlements in our major cities and towns don’t have access to community waste containers and or household level waste bins. For instance, if I had to walk miles to dispose household level waste, I would rather dump it in a nearby drain (as mostly practice in Accra and Kumasi), or a nearby bush at night. Some even go to the extreme instances of carrying their household level waste to the public place only to dump them on the streets. Waste bins/containers are just not accessible, and is contributing to the piling up of filth across the country. The few that are provided are usually not emptied whenever they are full.

What do you expect a busy pedestrian walking on a busy street of Accra or Kumasi to do after emptying the content of a rubber? This person might have walked for two minutes or more without finding a street waste bin. What would you have him do with the waste generated in a place like that?

The Ministry should consider providing more waste containers/bins at reasonable intervals in our communities (especially low income earner areas), markets and along our streets. This will make it easier for people to be able to adopt positive waste disposal behaviours.

3. Work in collaboration with local authorities (including chiefs, opinion leaders and religious leaders) and parliament to enact environmental sanitation laws.

These laws should be laws which are deterrent enough to quench people’s appetite for improper disposal of waste.

The laws should have the legal teeth to be able to bite. I will love to see a portion of the law institutionalizing community sanitation taskforces, under the direct supervision of each local assembly, with the right to summon those who may flout sanitation rules and regulations. Wouldn’t it be interesting to also have a provision in that law that will give even a five year old child the right to tell his/her teacher, parent, guardian or any other adult in public to pick up a rubber/waste dropped indiscriminately?

In coming out with these sanitation laws, I suggest a lot of broader consultations should be done, involving the ordinary citizens for them to be owners of these very laws. Involving citizens in the formulation of the laws would be easier enforcing the laws than the other way round.

4. Work on increasing access to toilet facilities for homes and for public places.

If we can’t compel landlords of old buildings to provide toilet facilities for households, going forward, our building permit laws must compel future developers of homes/houses to include toilet facilities for households.

When it comes to provision of toilet facilities, the government of Ghana is even guilty. Most public structures put up by successive governments lack decent toilet facilities. Isn’t it appalling that majority of government schools are built for pupils/students without toilet facilities? Government’s failure to provide basic facilities like toilets in schools is indirectly teaching these young ones to adopt bad sanitation practices.

5. Zoomlion and other waste management companies should be made to expand their responsibilities.

The responsibilities of employees of waste management companies should not be limited to sweeping the streets alone (like what is being practiced now), but should also include having to tidy up drains along the very streets they sweep.

Let’s not focus on getting rid of the piled up filth alone (else we may be thinking we need more employees to get the country clean), but let’s also try and work on changing the behaviour of the waste generator as well. As it stands now, there is a strong link between the piled up filth in every part of the country and the behaviour of the people. Breaking this link will be crucial in order to realize a clean Ghana we are all yearning for.

Author: Gbolu Samson
President, PHAN Ghana
Email: [email protected]