Henry Quartey
Ridding the nation’s capital of filth is a task which requires the participation of all residents.
Various modules have been adopted over the years towards addressing the filth conundrum bedeviling Accra but which achieved little or nothing.
A heightened migration to the city over the years from all parts of the country to a city with limited waste management resources and irresponsible conduct of many have both contributed to mounting filth staring at us day in and day out.
If the nation’s capital, Accra for that matter, represents the façade of the country, then we must quickly reverse its unappealing look of mountains of uncollected garbage dotting the city.
Neon lights in front of high rise buildings alone do not make a city beautiful. The beauty of a city is measured by how much individuals appreciate their role in ridding it of filth and abhorring reckless littering.
When shop owners, shoppers, landlords and tenants all resolve to contribute their quota towards the achievement of the goal of a filth-less Accra, we would have achieved the objective of brightening the corners where we are.
Cities such as Kigali stand out when neatness of cities come up for discussion. We recall how a delegation from Ghana went to that city to observe how the place is maintained. It was an unnecessary trip because when we resolve to reverse the current filthy state of our environments, we can reach that status too.
Tomorrow, we all have an opportunity to join hands with the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, and the Regional Coordinating Council to give Accra and the region a new-look. Let it not be a nine day wonder but a consistent assignment behooving us all.
Unlike previous failed attempts, this one is integrated, not restricted, to the cleaning of gutters in the frontages of our residences and shops but inclusive of general discipline on our roads. A holistic project such as this is expensive and remains our last hope of rescuing a city being drowned in filth and indiscipline.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister Henry Quartey has done all that is humanly possible to give Accra a whiff of neatness never seen before by engaging stakeholders from queen mothers to bankers just so the project succeeds.
An enforcement team is being prepared and with the level of discipline, the personnel are going to tackle their assignments. We have no doubt in our minds that the city is set to wear a new look.
The importation of compaction trucks and establishment of transfer stations are key in the success of the project especially, as all the assemblies will be provided logistics they did not have previously.
When the project is fully operational, the situation where garbage from gutters return to their sources because there are no trucks to convey them to a reception station would have been taken care of.
We join the minister in encouraging corporate bodies to support the regional coordinating council with relevant resources to make the project a success. Advertisements in the various languages as a critical means of effecting attitudinal changes towards the environment should be considered by the managers of the project. When people appreciate the importance of the project, they will willingly come onboard.
The role of monitoring in such matters should not be overlooked. It is our hope therefore that the secretariat and the control room which would be created to prop up the project will live up to expectation.
In the long run, let the authorities consider the covering of our gutters so that domestic wastes would no longer be dumped in such places and make them the eyesores that they are.
We are all part of the project and wish ourselves, the regional minister and the regional coordinating council Godspeed, as we embark on this momentous task. Accra deserves to wear a new look and now.