You see that video of huge amounts of trash floating through the Odaw drain? Something struck me from the commentary of the bystanders.
The people standing on the bridge sounded shocked by the mountain of rubbish floating past. But their shock shocked me even more. If you experience Accra for even a week, expressing shock about that level of filth would only be the product of naivety or wilful pretence.
See, if we are being truthful, many of the very people expressing disbelief are likely the same people who casually throw sachets, bottles, food packs and other rubbish onto our streets and drains every day.
Where do we think all that waste ends up?
The issue of littering is a product of failure at the local government level and wanton indiscipline from the citizenry. The government (assemblies) certainly has a responsibility to provide more public bins and improved waste management. The citizenry, on the other hand, have a duty to dispose of waste responsibly, both at home and on our streets.
The absence of either factor makes it difficult to keep our communities clean and healthy.
The unfortunate reality is that both sides are failing at the same time, and that is the quagmire we find ourselves in.
I recall taking a walk from the Holy Spirit Cathedral at Adabraka towards the Ridge Roundabout earlier this year. Having finished a bottle of water, I was actively looking for a bin to do the needful. I walked past the Psychiatric Hospital, continued along the stretch to the Ridge Hospital, still no bin in sight. It wasn’t until I reached the Ridge Roundabout that I finally found a public waste bin.
That is simply unacceptable. This is, without doubt, one of the most important stretches in Accra, a corporate and administrative corridor that hosts some of Ghana’s most critical state institutions, including the Bank of Ghana. If such a prominent part of the capital cannot be adequately provided with public bins, then one can only imagine the situation in our suburbs and inner-city communities.
We often blame citizens for littering, and rightly so. But responsible waste disposal also requires the necessary infrastructure. People should not have to carry trash for nearly 1.5 kilometres before finding a bin. For your attention, Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly.
For someone determined not to litter, that’s an inconvenience they can handle. For another without that level of discipline, it’s a test of character, and many fail that test.
Our assemblies must wake up. The responsibility of ensuring clean and healthy environments largely rests on their shoulders, and they cannot continue to shirk that responsibility. The lack of refuse bins across our communities and accompanying poor refuse collection and management is untenable.
I understand we have an ugly reality of theft of refuse bins, but that’s where innovation has to come in. It means we must find a way to design and install bins that are difficult to steal. Guess what, the bin I finally found was one crafted from empty bottles. I guess that model is somehow immune to theft. I leave the various MMDCEs with this clue.
