Ensuring proper sanitation requires attitudinal change

Cleanliness is next to godliness; the good book says.

Indeed, all religions push for the observance of proper sanitation as a way of life, as poor sanitation results in many illnesses, apart from polluting the environment.

The government through the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development as well as the Ministry of Water and Sanitation has embarked on many projects and made several efforts to ensure we all live in a clean environment, but all attempts seem to have fallen through.

The local authorities have faced a Herculean task just managing the tonnes of waste generated daily by communities in their jurisdictions, with heaps of rubbish piling up at dumpsites for years and the few community waste receptacles overflowing because waste trucks have not been able to keep up with the garbage generated.

Attempts to recycle have also not been able to solve the problem of plastic waste, especially, and also organic waste that is generated, resulting in a lot of the waste we generate littering the streets and, generally, the environment.

What irks the Daily Graphic, however, is that most people know that littering is a bad practice, yet we do it with careless abandon with some even throwing rubbish out of the windows of moving vehicles.

The main reason is that most people have developed the bad attitude of strewing rubbish anywhere and everywhere without a thought about their actions because they know they can get away with it.

When President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ascended the high office as President, he pledged to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa and by extension, to get the whole country clean, not because he wielded a magic wand which he planned on using.

He made the pledge trusting in Ghanaians to ensure clean environments anywhere they found themselves, but alas, we have all failed woefully because although we have beautiful by-laws crafted by our assemblies, they only remain decorations in our statutes.

Much as we agree with the call by the Minister designate for Sanitation and Water Resources, Lydia Seyram Alhassan, for attitudinal change for the attainment of the President’s vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa, we believe that things are the way they are now because our laws are not being applied.

Yes, Ghanaians should change their way of doing things and take full responsibility for cleaning our environment and not depend on the government to offer that service while we continue to be reckless by keeping our environment unkempt.

However, research has proven that people would only do the things they are supposed to do when a provision or law enjoins them to do so.

Otherwise, why will the same Ghanaian who takes delight in littering, claim that cleaning up is someone else’s duty, but properly dispose of packaging material or the litter they generate when they go to Europe or another country where laws are enforced?

Although we have waste management companies which are struggling to keep up because of high overhead costs as managing waste is capital intensive and they still have to pay huge taxes on equipment imported, the real job of ensuring proper sanitation is in the hands of every Ghanaian.

The Daily Graphic urges the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies charged with ensuring proper sanitation to enforce all their bye-laws to the letter.

Otherwise, we will continue going round in circles to find an antidote to our waste management challenge, but it will remain a mirage.

Also, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) should be properly resourced to embark on sustainable sensitisation on the need to keep our environment clean at all times while stating the punishment for recalcitrant citizens, as was done in the past.

The media can also assist with public announcements when the NCCE takes the lead.

We are all in this together to make sure we change our attitude for the better.

If other countries have been successful in ensuring that public and homes are kept clean through law enforcement, we can do the same.