The Ghanaian Times is desperately hoping that someone has noticed the picture of the streets of Accra the morning after every downpour. Rubbish!
For hours, that is, until Zoomlion sends its gangs to sweep away the rubbish, our streets are covered with a carpet of filth.
The picture is a shameful reminder of the saying that “what comes out of the kettle is what is in it” – a confirmation that Ghana is one of the dirtiest countries in the world, an accolade equaled only by our record of road accidents.
Last weekend, as Zoomlion gangs went to work, removing our national shame on the Kaneshie road, a sigh of relief escaped from the soul of many a concerned citizen. But it was like deodorizing a public toilet.
The wind soon blows the scent away, replaced by a worse stench.
What are the implications of this as the nation gets ready to welcome America’s first Black President, along with hundreds others, including the CNNs and the BBC-TVs of this world? Unless the US President will make the trip to Cape Coast/Elmina by helicopter, the Times wish to advise that this aspect of our way of life (as a dirty people) needs to be factored in the planning for the Obama visit.
If we do not do that, we may wake up to one of the most scandalous spectacles ever to be presented to an august foreign visitor.
Since we cannot wish away the rains, and since our science and technology has not developed to a level where we can use chemicals to disperse threatening black clouds to prevent imminent rain, what we can do may be to position Zoomlion gangs along the route from Osu, Nkrumah Circle and Kaneshie right through Kasoa, ready with their sweeping apparatus - traditional brooms, high-tech sweeping equipment et al - to sweep away our shame – just in case it rains!
While on the issue of rains, we are minded that yesterday, the NADMO boss, Kofi Portuphy, gave the strongest indication yet of the government’s determination to tackle one of the causes of flooding in the city.
He says that the demolition of buildings in waterways will proceed without fail, albeit with a human face.
We applaud the boldness.
However, while demolition is a physical act of pulling down structures, what happens to the other cause of flooding?
We ask in order to draw attention to the fact that littering, the main cause of choked gutters, is as serious a factor as building in waterways.
Fighting this canker is not so physical: it is embedded in attitudes. While arrests can be made, and should be made, accompanied by the widest publicity ever, the fact remains that the sin is more in the mind than anywhere else; indeed, a close look at the act of littering shows clearly that the offenders do not even realize that littering is an offence.
A long term solution, therefore, is required.
It should involve a massive, sustained and comprehensive educational drive, the type that will attack the psyche of the people and establish in our minds the benefits of looking clean and being clean.
This should be a NADMO agenda, and the money should be found to finance its implementation.
For hours, that is, until Zoomlion sends its gangs to sweep away the rubbish, our streets are covered with a carpet of filth.
The picture is a shameful reminder of the saying that “what comes out of the kettle is what is in it” – a confirmation that Ghana is one of the dirtiest countries in the world, an accolade equaled only by our record of road accidents.
Last weekend, as Zoomlion gangs went to work, removing our national shame on the Kaneshie road, a sigh of relief escaped from the soul of many a concerned citizen. But it was like deodorizing a public toilet.
The wind soon blows the scent away, replaced by a worse stench.
What are the implications of this as the nation gets ready to welcome America’s first Black President, along with hundreds others, including the CNNs and the BBC-TVs of this world? Unless the US President will make the trip to Cape Coast/Elmina by helicopter, the Times wish to advise that this aspect of our way of life (as a dirty people) needs to be factored in the planning for the Obama visit.
If we do not do that, we may wake up to one of the most scandalous spectacles ever to be presented to an august foreign visitor.
Since we cannot wish away the rains, and since our science and technology has not developed to a level where we can use chemicals to disperse threatening black clouds to prevent imminent rain, what we can do may be to position Zoomlion gangs along the route from Osu, Nkrumah Circle and Kaneshie right through Kasoa, ready with their sweeping apparatus - traditional brooms, high-tech sweeping equipment et al - to sweep away our shame – just in case it rains!
While on the issue of rains, we are minded that yesterday, the NADMO boss, Kofi Portuphy, gave the strongest indication yet of the government’s determination to tackle one of the causes of flooding in the city.
He says that the demolition of buildings in waterways will proceed without fail, albeit with a human face.
We applaud the boldness.
However, while demolition is a physical act of pulling down structures, what happens to the other cause of flooding?
We ask in order to draw attention to the fact that littering, the main cause of choked gutters, is as serious a factor as building in waterways.
Fighting this canker is not so physical: it is embedded in attitudes. While arrests can be made, and should be made, accompanied by the widest publicity ever, the fact remains that the sin is more in the mind than anywhere else; indeed, a close look at the act of littering shows clearly that the offenders do not even realize that littering is an offence.
A long term solution, therefore, is required.
It should involve a massive, sustained and comprehensive educational drive, the type that will attack the psyche of the people and establish in our minds the benefits of looking clean and being clean.
This should be a NADMO agenda, and the money should be found to finance its implementation.
