Going tough on Ghana’s ‘uncivilized’ sanitation would have made me very ‘unpopular’ as president – Rawlings

Former President Jerry John Rawlings says he would have been the most hated person for the tough decisions he would have taken on sanitation in the country if he was still the President of the Republic in order to rid the country of filth, MyNewsGh.com can report.

According to him, even though he risked being unpopular, he would have gone ahead and done the right thing by curing the uncivilized attitude of Ghanaians to sanitation. He wailed about Ghana’s fast-rising notoriety in dumping refuse in an ‘uncivilized’ manner indicating that irrespective of the interventions by government and waste management companies, the situation will not be remedied until Ghanaians change their attitude.

Mr Rawlings said a thousand Jospongs will not rid the country of filth if Ghanaians continue to be ill-disciplined about waste.

He noted that President AKufo-Addo has done well by establishing a Ministry in charge of sanitation but said he would have in addition instituted other unpopular measures which would have made him being hated.

“The President is quite a constitutional ruler and a democrat and maybe I will say I am also a democrat but I also believe in natural justice. He has set up a ministry responsible for sanitation etc…and left it to the Ministry, left it to us to do something about our environment. There is something I think I would I have done in addition that would have made some people unhappy but I would still have gone ahead and get it done. Because no one has the right to do some of the things we do when it comes to the issue of the environment. Refuse disposal is uncivilized the way we do it”, he stated while at speaking the 2018 Thanksgiving Service of the Zoomlion and Jospong Group in Accra.

The former President admitted that some success has been chalked in terms of fighting filth by the government and its allied agencies but urged that much must be done to end what he described as an uncivilized canker in the country.

“We have not quite cleared the fuss and the refuse in the environment. Nothing! What tells how civilized or uncivilized a human community is or can be if you are not handling the refuse collection responsibly. Things would have been much worse if people like him (JOSPONG) were not playing the role they are playing so far. This uncivilized behavior would not need to Democrat with”, he demanded.

Irrespective of the number of ministries and waste collection companies brought on board, he observed that attitude was key in dealing with the situation head-on.

“Refuse disposal is uncivilized the way we do it. No matter how successful, no matter how many JOSPONGS and how many others would be brought on board if we cannot dump refuse responsibility in a place that is carved out for it no number of JOSPONGS and others will help us clean the environment. No number of ministries established will help us behave in a very civilized manner. Our irresponsibility on a global scale is leading to global warming”, he warned.