THE BEST WAY TO ERADICATE GHANA’S POOR SANITATION ISSUES

It is assumed that Ghana wastes as much as 280 million cedis annually on waste management (Joy-News-Clean-The City-Campaign).

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It is never surprising to most of us when it comes to how engulfed we are as Ghanaians with filth. The truth they say hurts always. As Ghanaians, most of us are very reluctant in nature when it comes to the issue of proper sanitation. We find it difficult to keep our places 100% clean; from the bedroom to our kitchen and to our verandas and everywhere.

Many people have suggested a lot of modalities that could be put in place to put an end to this perennial sanitation issue.

Collectively, the following are some adopted measures used by other countries to solve this problem.

The use of stiffer punishment for culprits of poor sanitation related offences. Frankly speaking, a new law should be made by Ghana’s parliament to compel offenders to pay hefty fines and to some harsh extent be imprisoned. Kenya as a country has adopted this strategy and even though it has its challenges, it is making an impact on the citizenry. Who would recklessly throw away rubbish after his or her neighbour has paid over Gh¢1000.00 for just that act? Also, what about offenders facing up to 2 years for indiscriminately littering around? It will serve as a deterrence to all and sundry once and for all. Remember, it is believed that the bitter pill cures the most stubborn diseases.

I am with the above ascertain because as a country, we have tried mass awareness as a tool to solve poor sanitation in the country and it has not salvaged the situation. U. S. A as a country has successfully used mass education on sanitation related issues and they have succeeded.

Let me remind you of the countless efforts by authorities to solve this issue by providing seemly adequate dustbins at vantage points but to no avail. Look at the numerous “zoomlion” officers in town toiling day and night just to keep our cities clean but what is the result? Nothing!

You see people throw debris out of moving cars unto the road and when you caution them, they would shamelessly respond, “if we don’t do that the zoom lion people won’t get job to do“.

It is time to crack the whip on offenders with hefty fines and jail sentences and I bet that our poor sanitation issue will be minimised drastically if not entirely eradicated.

By: C. A. Asante
Ghana
Freelance Writer.