APATHY STIFLES CLEAN-UP EXERCISE (PAGE 29)

CLEAN-UP exercises organised in our cities, towns and the rural communities have become part of our social life due to the irresponsible attitudes of many people.
People litter, defecate, urinate and dump refuse indiscriminately and with impunity in spite of the intensive public education the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies have carried out on sanitation, using the various FM stations and the television networks.
In our quest for a clean environment, these clean-up exercises have to be organised periodically to clear the environment of filth to avoid the outbreak of diseases such as cholera, dysentery, diarrhoea, typhoid, among others.
But many people who create the mess are beginning to exhibit general apathy and lackadaisical attitudes during these clean-up exercises.
A case in point is on Friday, February 13 , 2009 when the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council (WRCC) launched a massive clean-up exercise in the region, which was to be followed by the organisation of clean-up exercises in the 17 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in the region.
The Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly organised a clean-up exercise on the following day, Saturday, February 14 , 2009 to tidy up the metropolis.
It was observed during the exercise that some people stood by unconcerned while others participated fully in the clean-up exercise.
At the Takoradi Central Market, popularly known as the Market Circle, the market women and other traders who created the filth sat comfortably in front of their stores around the market watching the military and other security personnel as well as some good citizens religiously undertaking the clean-up exercise.
Obviously they were patiently waiting for the exercise to end in order to begin trading to put the place in another mess.
This is not an isolated case, since this has been happening in other cities, towns and the communities during such clean-up exercises all over the country.
The Chief Director of the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council, Mr David Yaro, made it clear during the regional launch of the clean-up campaign that any programme that dealt with sanitation was very important since it had a linkage with human resource development.
Ghana, he said, was rated the third dirtiest country in Africa when evaluating sanitation conditions.
This, he said, has not brought any good image to the country and, therefore, called on everybody to come on board to make the country clean.
“Our good name is at stake so let us all come on board to make the programme a success,” Mr Yaro emphasised.
The Environmental Services Providers Association (ESPA) collaborated with its members in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis to support the assembly with logistics such as refuse trucks, tipper trucks, pay loaders, wheel barrows, pick axes and shovels.
The Secretary of the ESPA, Mrs Vera Yankah, observed that sanitation issues had assumed national dimensions and that there was the need for the association to design ways which would help tackle the problem.
She said monitoring the activities of its members and assisting them would ensure that they lived up to expectation by lifting refuse containers promptly and regularly as well as servicing the industries, hospitals and the well planned residential areas.
The Western Regional Operations Supervisor of Zoomlion Ghana, waste management experts, Mr Felix Boankrah, who participated fully in the exercise with the staff of the company stressed that the company’s effort to wage a war against waste would be in vain if the negative behavioural patterns of the general public did not change.