National Sanitation Day challenges : It’s not about compulsion
On November 1, 2014, the National Sanitation Day (NSD) initiative was launched to mobilise the good people of this country to undertake clean-up exercises on the first Saturday of every month to help keep our communities clean and free from diseases.
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The initiative was to combat the unprecedented cholera outbreak that same year which claimed over 200 lives across the country.
The NSD is an initiative of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and at the beginning it was well patronised by the masses, without compulsion, with a positive outlook towards improved sanitation.
However, the situation is no longer the same, after almost one and a half years. The people who are expected to embrace the exercise have started developing cold feet and are no longer enthusiastic about its sustainability.
Numerous reports abound of a significant drop in the number of people who participate in the exercise
Sadly, communities in Accra, such as Nima, Maamobi, Sukura, Zongo Junction, Mallam Atta, Madina, Teshie, La, among others, which used to record huge patronage during the NSD have all lost interest in the exercise.
Among the reasons some residents who regularly participated in the exercise in the past give for their disinterest in it is the fact that when they clean the gutters, the rubbish is left on the shoulders of the streets, eventually finding its way back into the gutters, as a result of which there is no incentive to continue cleaning the gutters.
Due to the dwindling number of participants in this all important exercise attracted the concern of top government officials and appointees have, on different occasions, called for legislation that could compel residents to participate in the national exercise, as well as deal harshly with those who fail to take part.
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After reflecting on all the issues raised by the ministers, as well as examining possible legislation to compel every Tom, Dick and Harry to participate in the NSD, I have the feeling that getting people to participate in a purely voluntary exercise should not be under compulsion.
Let us go back to the era preceding the Fourth Republic when we had the Provisional National Defence Council under then Chairman Jerry Rawlings ruling this country. It was a glorious period when voluntarism was at its best. That was the time people preferred taking part in clean-up exercises to attending to their personal or private needs.
At that time, there was that conspicuous example of leadership and every Ghanaian felt he/she was part of the problem and, therefore, was ready to be part of the solution.
There was no legislation but everybody was willing to contribute his/her quota to national development in his/her own small way. Yes, there were the soldiers around who, on some occasions, compelled the deviant ones to conform to the norm, but the spirit at play during that period was voluntary.
I believe the factors drawing this laudable programme backwards are legion. There are those who think the NSD initiative has been politicised and, therefore, one side of the political divide does not want to be associated with it because if there is success, it will be claimed by just one group — the ruling party.
Additionally, there are those who believe they are already paying enough taxes and tolls that should adequately cater for the maintenance of a clean environment and healthy sanitary conditions. For this group, they would not waste their time engaging in anything that will be in conflict with this assertion.
In all this, I don’t believe the exercise should be abandoned; neither do I subscribe to the idea that there should be some legislation to make it compulsory.
What can be done to salvage this laudable initiative from imminent collapse is for the Ministry of Local Government to engage/employ sociologists to keep updating it on the changing behaviours of the people the ministry is supposed to work with.
The solution to the problem is not compulsion; it’s about education and persuasion, period.