There is no excuse for National Sanitation Day to fail

The government, in 2014, instituted the National Sanitation Day (NSD) programme to inculcate in Ghanaians the need for the observance of proper environmental sanitation.

Since the introduction of the NSD in November 2014, the exercise has been marked across the country every first Saturday of the month. However, after the initial fervor that saw the exercise move to all regional capitals to whip up enthusiasm among the people, patronage has consistently dropped.

Indeed, participation in last Saturday’s exercise was nothing to write home about.

One of the reasons assigned for the low patronage in the monthly exercise is the lack of equipment in various localities, districts and regions to aid in the proper disposal of waste that is collected after each exercise.

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), under whose ambit the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) responsible for ensuring proper sanitation fall, is challenged as far as field officers and sanitation equipment are concerned.

It is in view of this that waste management company Zoomlion last Friday presented 400 waste trucks and 5,000 motorised tricycles to the MLGRD to be distributed to all MMDAs, as well as waste management companies belonging to the Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA), to aid them in the collection and proper disposal of waste throughout the country.

While we applaud Zoomlion for its invaluable contribution towards the cause of the NSD, we are of the view that equipment alone does not hold the key to the proper observance of environmental sanitation or effective participation of the citizenry.

In times past, the average Ghanaian did not need to be told or coerced to practise proper sanitation. That was ingrained in him, not only through education and sensitisation, as sanitary inspectors from the local councils who were referred to as “Tankas” were very effective in their job of ensuring discipline among the people so far as sanitation was concerned.

The “tankas” who moved from house to house inspecting sanitary conditions were not only feared because of the sanctions that they imposed on households and individuals who flouted sanitation bye-laws but were revered as well due to the role they played in ensuring the sanctity of the environment.

Today, the story is different and people litter with impunity and careless abandon. One of the reasons is that the population has increased and there are just few sanitary inspectors employed by the government.

Ghana’s poor sanitation credentials are high because the laws on environmental cleanliness are lax and so people throw refuse and other waste materials about without let or hindrance because they will not be sanctioned by the city authorities.

The Daily Graphic believes that it is time to take the bull by the horn by adopting a multi-prong approach to solving the country’s sanitation problems, including the provision of adequate equipment to ensure proper collection and disposal of waste. 

The NSD itself is not the panacea for solving our sanitation challenges but it is a good start and we do not have any excuse to make it fail in shaping us all to imbibe good sanitation habits.

Let us all, therefore, get on board the sanitation train when it moves on every first Saturday of the month and make it work.