Stealing of waste bins a greedy and selfish act – Sanitation Minister

Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah has described the attitude exhibited by some Ghanaians who steal governmental waste bins positioned at vantage points as a greedy and selfish act.

She said some unscrupulous people go the extra mile to break serialized padlocks affixed on these bins provided by the sanitation ministry for Ghanaians perusal.

In an interview with the media after touring landfill sites in some municipalities in Accra on Tuesday, the minister cautioned Ghanaians to desist from such unlawful act; this, she added will save the government from using taxpayers’ money to replace these stolen bins.

“We must stop doing ourselves that harm because it is taxpayers’ money that we use to purchase the bins and people should not be greedy or selfish to pick them or steal them. It’s not good”, the minister bemoaned.

According to Madam Dapaah, this uncalled for attitude compelled the ministry to resort to metal-secured and locked bins in Accra to prevent them from being stolen.

Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo on September 7, 2019, during ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ Consultative Forum with civil society organisations in Accra also pleaded with Ghanaians to have an attitudinal change towards sanitation in the country.

He noted that “the cost of mounting a dust bin is far more than the dust bin itself. The cost of the lock, concrete and metal belts is far more than the dust bin.”

“Should it be so? It is a mindset. Elsewhere in the world, these things are put at vantage points and nobody will attempt to take it to their house to put water in it but here in Ghana, if you leave them out unprotected, people will remove them and take them to their houses for their personal use” the senior minister added.