A successful management of wastes in Accra continues to be elusive. Over the years successive governments have sought to deal with the issue to no avail. The efforts have been hampered by a number of bottlenecks some bordering on the insincerity of policymakers.
Being a capital intensive industry, the predisposition to graft by bad players acting in tandem with their politician counterparts is constant.
One of the issues raised by waste management companies, which of course is true is the sometimes unavailability of dumping sites for the whopping tonnage of waste generated in Accra.
We have observed that many of the companies engaged in this business are not mechanically primed for the rather tough assignment. These companies in spite of their shortcomings have managed to etch their names on the list of waste managers.
We have learnt excitedly that the Sanitation Minister, Hon Cecilia Dapaah, has engaged the players in the waste management industry obviously to discuss what to do to ensure that Accra is rid of filth in the most efficient and sustainable fashion.
The progress or otherwise in the sanitation industry is important observation. The President is passionate about this subject because he told the world that he intends raising the status of Accra ‘to the neatest on the continent.’ With cities like Kigali already in the lead, undoing their positions will require extra effort by ministers and players in the industry. Perhaps the establishment of a Sanitation Ministry was informed by this passion.
The President’s passion is something the Minister is seeking to ensure by the number of actions she has lined up in the Sanitation Ministry. Bringing the principal persons in the sanitation industry, as she has begun already, is a step in the right direction.
The grading of the players, for instance, will make them sit up and execute their mandate with a sense of commitment necessary for the realization of the dream of having Accra assume a respectable ranking in the area of sanitation.
Running the sanitation ministry at a time the expectations for a filth-free national capital and the country as a whole is a tall order; its accomplishment depends on all Ghanaians and not just officialdom.
We wish the minister could extend the engagement to other critical stakeholders such as opinion leaders, chiefs and even assemblymen. There are many Accra residents especially in the slums who do not see anything wrong with dumping refuse in gutters and even not registering with the waste management companies for want of money to pay for the service or just being irresponsible.
Only such an engagement with the aforementioned stakeholders will change, albeit gradually, this mindset about our relationship with the environment.
The leaderships of religious centres, such as churches and mosques, have an important role to play in this direction. The minister would soon find out the importance of establishing a direct periodic meeting with such persons on the issue of waste management.
After the grading, which we hope does not turn up as a pipedream, those who consistently remain at the lowest notch should be woken up or be delisted.