After Sanitation Week, what next?

After Sanitation Week, what next?
Asks Salome Donkor
Sanitation and waste management are crucial issues that have generated a lot of discussions and featured prominently in various debates.
This is in view of the fact that sanitation is a major problem in Ghana and as one goes round the cities and towns, one sees filth, with drains choked with solid and liquid waste, while open spaces and beaches, which should serve as recreational grounds have become defecating and dumping sites for all kinds of waste.
Some major roads and streets, including lorry parks, are littered with garbage and the situation in low income communities, especially, those in the cities and major towns is a sorry sight.
In some cases inadequacy of resources have been attributed to the problem, while the problem of lack of landfill sites, lack of equipment to cart waste, inadequate health or sanitary inspectors, as well as, non-enforcement of legislation and bye-laws and general indiscipline seem to be major contributory factors to the problem.
People throw out waste and urinate indiscriminately and in some cases defecate carelessly in public places, which according to health experts, lead to the spread of a number of diseases.
To help address the problem, the then Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development took a bold step to institute the National Sanitation Week in 2002 to rekindle the communal spirit in Ghanaians and to draw the attention of the people to sanitation issues that have become a burden to society.
During the week, cleen-up exercises are to be organised in communities, workplaces, offices and schools. This year the sixth Sanitation Week was launched at Konongo-Odumasi in the Asante-Akim North District in the Ashanti Region.
The Vice-President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who launched the Sanitation Week called on all to respect the environmental health officers to enable them to carry out their duties of education and enforcement of sanitation laws and regulations.
As he appropriately said, it was time for all to turn a new leaf, learn lessons from past Sanitation Week celebrations and resolve to change their attitude towards the environment.
Consequently, he urged school, religious bodies, industry, the private sector and civil society to support the relevant public agencies to manage waste.
Earlier, before the launching ceremony, participants at the second national sanitation policy dialogue, which was held as part of activities marking the Sixth National Sanitation Week in Accra advocated the enforcement of sanitation bye-laws and stiffer penalties for offenders.
They also called for sustainable financing for and use of appropriate technologies in waste management.
The call is very appropriate, considering the fact that some people do not know that there are sanitation bye-laws or have decided not to abide by these laws to help maintain a clean and healthy surroundings.
For instance sections of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Bye-laws (1995), deals with solid and liquid waste management and cleaning. Paragraph Five of Section 175 states that “Owners or occupier of premises shall be responsible for the provision of containers that will be used in storing solid liquid waste within the premises in consonance with specifications approved by the AMA.”
Paragraph Nine states that “The AMA shall impose prescribed fees on an owner or occupier of premises where services are rendered for the disposal of liquid waste and such fees shall be reviewed from time to time.”
Paragraph 11 prescribes a fine not exceeding ¢200,000 or in default of payment to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months or both for offenders.
Various Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) also have similar bye-laws by the powers conferred on them by the Local Government Act (Act 462).
It is obvious that although MMDAs have been tasked with the responsibility of waste management, the onerous responsibility of ensuring a garbage-free nation does not rests solely on their shoulders. Unit committees, traditional authorities, traders, drivers, passengers and landlords also have respective roles to play.
Persistent education on environmental sanitation had not yielded the desired results, hence the need for effective monitoring and evaluation systems, as well as enforcement of bye-laws to enhance sustainable environmental management.
There is also the need for a strong political will on the part of politicians in dealing with sanitation issues and city authorities should be allowed to execute their programmes without any interference from any quarters if the activities were to serve the general good of the people.
After the launch of this year’s sixth Sanitation Week, nothing had been done in the area of clean-up exercises to demonstrate that the people’s consciousness to sanitation issues that have become a burden to society, had been raised.
I once saw a video clip on Television by the Great Lamptey- Mills School that showed the negative attitude of people to waste disposal and how people manage dtheir personal hygiene and the sanitation. One might think that the people were just acting in the clip but that is the true situation on the ground. It is not surprising if we should check every home to know how they manage their waste and the kind of dustbin they use; polythene and unprescribed materials; perforated and corrosive dustbins.
This gives an indication that many Ghanaians do not care much about sanitation at all. A lot of them take it as normal but the kind of dangers this indiscipline brings to our lives is so great. If measures are not taken towards the indiscriminate disposal of waste, then in the next few years, our lives may be at a higher risk than we see today.
The bad attitude and ignorance of both the educated and the uneducated must change.
Let's learn to do the right thing because a healthy living makes health life.