The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Okaikwei North, Hon. Christian Tetteh Badger, has urged residents to adopt responsible waste disposal practices, insisting that Ghana’s recurring flooding and sanitation challenges will persist unless citizens change their attitude towards waste management.
According to him, the devastating June 29 floods exposed the consequences of indiscriminate refuse disposal, making it imperative for residents to pay for refuse collection services instead of dumping waste into drains.
“We cannot generate refuse and expect someone to collect it for us free of charge. Once you generate waste, you must find a way to dispose of it properly by paying for its collection. That is how it is done everywhere in the world,” he said.
Hon. Badger made the remarks during a two-day National Sanitation Exercise organised by the Okaikwei North Municipal Assembly in response to President John Dramani Mahama’s directive for a nationwide clean-up following the June 29 floods.
The exercise mobilised management and staff of the Assembly, more than 100 military personnel, assembly members, sanitation police, sanitation commandos, officers of the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Prisons Service, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Zoomlion Ghana Limited, traditional authorities, market queens and residents.
The teams desilted major drains, dredged choked gutters, weeded overgrown medians and collected refuse from communities including Abofu, Tesano, Achimota, Kopevi, Apenkwa, Abeka Junction and Alogboshie.
The MCE lauded President Mahama for declaring the nationwide clean-up campaign, describing it as a timely intervention to restore environmental sanitation.
“The June 29 rainfall and its aftermath have become a wake-up call for the nation. It has exposed our behaviour and attitude towards sanitation. We therefore called on institutions, traditional leaders and residents to close their shops and participate in the exercise,” he said.
Hon. Badger revealed that the Assembly deployed participants into three operational teams to simultaneously clear major drains across the Municipality, with military personnel providing support to speed up the exercise.
He said inspections of the drains showed years of accumulated silt, polythene bags and other waste materials that had obstructed the free flow of water.
“What I have seen as a major challenge is that many of the drains have not been desilted for a long time. When you open them, you find polythene and other materials that should never be there. This has created serious blockages,” he noted.
The MCE announced that the Assembly would introduce periodic desilting of drains, at least once every month, to prevent future flooding.
He also lamented the country’s inadequate waste disposal infrastructure, saying the absence of strategically located refuse transfer stations contributes to delays in waste evacuation.
According to him, refuse trucks often spend several hours travelling to disposal sites, reducing the number of trips they can make in a day and allowing waste to accumulate in communities.
“It is an area we need to invest in. Government should consider acquiring land for more refuse collection centres within the city to reduce the distance waste trucks travel before disposal,” he suggested.
Hon. Badger further called for a gradual transition away from plastics, describing plastic waste as the dominant material recovered from drains during the exercise.
“I wish we could ban plastic waste in Ghana. Technology from our universities can help us develop environmentally friendly alternatives. Everywhere we clean, what we collect most is plastic. Plastic has become our enemy rather than our friend,” he stressed.
On the second day of the exercise, the Member of Parliament for Okaikwei North, Hon. Theresa Lardi Awuni, joined the Assembly, security agencies and residents to clear refuse and desilt drains in parts of the Municipality.
Source:onma.gov.gh
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson, AD IIB