Focus on environmental cleanliness to deal with cholera

The cholera epidemic continues to spread to other parts of the country, as sanitation and health officials try to find effective ways to halt it.

In the wake of the epidemic, a suggestion was made to ban all street vending of food. That suggestion could not be carried out because it was unrealistic, seeing that a great number of the population buy food from street vendors. 

The Daily Graphic believes that what we can do as a country is to encourage proper screening of all food vendors at regular intervals.

In Ghana, we have our food vendors rather beside rubbish dumps and gutters. What is more, conditions at our food joints are appalling, while the water used to wash plates and cutlery is not changed and disinfection not done.

People are unsure about the health conditions of food vendors, as common diseases such as typhoid, cholera and other communicable diseases persist.

The issue is about behavioural change and respect for the laws. We all have to change our attitude, so that we can live and eat in healthy and clean environments.

The major problem is the fact that our laws are not enforced and the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) appear to have gone to sleep.

A core mandate of the assemblies, their legislative power, has been thrown to the dogs because no laws are enforced. Even if they have to enforce the laws, they are arbitrary and cosmetic.

The assemblies, whose core mandate is the provision of governance at the doorstep of the people, seem not to realise that development is not just about brick and mortar. 

In other words, skyscrapers and statistics per se do not promote the welfare of the people. Since development must promote the well-being of the people, the activities of the assemblies must drive that agenda.

That is why the assemblies must make sure that the environment in which they operate is conducive for the health of the people.

If they continue to focus on physical development, to the neglect of the very basic needs, then we are likely to continue to contend with avoidable diseases such as cholera that will claim the lives of breadwinners.

Our metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) should be charged to maintain a clean environment.

At this stage, it will not be out of place to introduce a competition on environmental cleanliness among all MMDCEs.

Those who pass the test on the environment should be rewarded with continued stay in office, while the people of such communities should also be rewarded.

The time has come to name and shame to get things done right in our society.