My favourite sanitation quote is by Matt Damon, the American actor. He came to the conclusion that “You’ll never solve poverty without sanitation”.
I concur. Nations that struggle with sanitation are invariably the ones that struggle with their economy.
I am not looking to see spotlessness, but the unsanitary conditions in Ghana beggar description. Dirt has become ubiquitous, especially in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi, so much that to keep your sanity and avoid throwing up, you might have to walk around with eyes closed and nostrils blocked.
Sadly, even Sunyani and Tamale are losing their claim to cleanliness.
The more we fight, the more we lose. I had concluded that nobody cared. But I revised my notes when President John Dramani Mahama declared Friday, July 10 and Saturday, July 11 as Sanitation Days.
Beyond this, he has officially relaunched the National Sanitation Day, declaring the first Saturday of every month as National General Cleaning Days in all 261 assemblies.
Like a bull, the President has seen red, and like a bull, he is charging enraged. Under his "Clean Ghana" initiative, sanitation and cleanliness now serve as key performance benchmarks for District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) whose job security will be directly affected by the state of sanitation in their districts. Forgive my cynicism, but I will believe this only when the first MMDCE is fired.
If it ever happens, President Mahama would have attained immortality.
Citizens are also required to clean their frontages—especially those with shops—and may face sanctions from assembly sanitation agents for failing to do so.
Sanctions? From sanitation agents? Without intending to, the President has only created a loot-and-share situation for these agents.
You can be sure that for every citizen arrested, 100 others would have been left off the hook – after palming GH¢20 bribes.
Sanitation Day
National Sanitation Day in Ghana was first declared in 2014. Long before then, how many times did we not see J.J. Rawlings in the gutters of Accra, desilting to rounds upon rounds of applause.
Within a fortnight, filth started piling up like mountains and spreading like carpets.
Next was President Atta Mills. He promised to tackle the sanitation problem within his first 100 days in office. True, he did launch various localised clean-up exercises, but this effort was a drop in a large barrel.
Nana Akufo Addo promised to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa. The failure was as miserable as its effect was horrifying.
In 2026, Mahama is also in the gutters.
The failure is legendary. Contrast the situation in Rwanda. Its war against filth was started in 2008. Today, the capital, Kigali, stands as one of the cleanest, most litter-free urban areas in Africa.
Far from pooh-poohing the efforts of our Presidents, I am not surprised that they failed. It’s nice to see a President lead by example, but the exercises have had no value beyond theatrics.
Fundamental problem
Meaning: there is a fundamental problem. If, 10 minutes after a massive cleaning exercise, a trader or tro-tro driver’s mate, out of habit, resumes littering without compunction, there is a fundamental problem.
But the problem is solvable. Permit me to share a best practice. In the late 1990s, Bangladesh faced massive economic hurdles and widespread open defecation, which fueled high child mortality rates. The government used to give subsidies for building latrines but that policy was failing. The government called in the country’s think-tanks.
The strategy: Bangladesh shifted from subsidising hardware to a behavioural model called Community-Led Total Sanitation.
Instead of giving people free toilets, external facilitators helped communities map out their own open defecation areas.
The intended effect was achieved. It triggered collective shame and a shared desire for change. Communities then self-organised to build their own low-cost, locally sourced toilets using bamboo and plastic rings.
The Result: open defecation in Bangladesh plummeted from over 34 per cent in 1990 to less than one per cent by the mid-2010s. Lesson for Ghanaians: the feat was achieved by a government that had no fear of losing votes in the next elections, a government that knew the value of think-tanks.
Floods
In Ghana, our sanitation battle this year has been sparked off by the recent floods.
Floods? Ghana has invested nearly US$1 billion in sanitation and flood prevention in the past two decades, with US$723 million focused on Greater Accra.
In spite of this, projects such as Accra East drainage have stalled for nearly 20 years.
As far back as 2006, Ghana took an African Development Bank US$68m loan for an Accra Sewerage Improvement Project.
In 2019, the World Bank approved a US$200 million facility under the Greater Accra Resilient & Integrated Development (GARID) project to tackle flood control.
Two years ago, in 2024, we received 225,000 euros from the African Water Facility to improve drainage in Accra East. This year, we have received 113 million pounds sterling from the European Union, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Danish government (DANIDA) for flood-resilient roads.
Verdict? There, obviously, is a disbursement versus progress mismatch.
The writer is the Executive Director, Centre for Communication and Culture.
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