Ghanaians attitude towards environment, a recipe of disaster

Environmental mismanagement in Ghana has been a major challenge facing most of our Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.

It is assumed that huge amount of money has always been used by the government in the fight against poor management of our environment by Ghanaians.

The environment as a whole can simply be described as a place where humans as well as plants and animals live but the question is "How do Ghanaians keep our environment whether good or bad?".

It is always much disgusting that the way each and every government tries it best in fighting against poor management of our environment, Ghanaians attitude are always contrary to the policies that are been laid down to help the fight.

Queen Elizabeth l. On her visit to Ghana in the 90s was much excited to see the condition and the environment of Kumasi of which she described Kumasi as the Garden City of west Africa.

Kumasi at that time was as beautiful as the Garden of Eden whereby the environment was much serene and a home of good and healthy living.

A lot of factors constitute how Ghanaians do destroy our environment.

Littering on the various streets, Smoking, illegal mining, smoke from industries not to mention few dumping of rubbish in the various gutters..

Precisely littering on our various streets and gutters In Kumasi In the Ashanti region of Ghana have been the major cause and in context as far as the fight against poor management of our environment remains very difficult to each and every government in Ghana.

Mayor of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly KMA. Hon Osei Assibey Antwi and his management team recently adopted and initiated a policy called "Keep Kumasi Clean and Green" which is there purposely to help clean most of our streets in Kumasi of which it can be said on an authority that over hundreds of dust bin have been station in most vantage points in the Kumasi Metropolis.

The exercise, which was to be known as 'Operation keep the city clean' involved the planting of trees and the education of the public against indiscriminate disposal of waste.

As part of the efforts to achieve the objective, the assembly enrolled the service of 150 national service personnel who were sent to all the nine sub-metros of the metropolis to educate the public on the need to keep the environment clean.

At a town hall meetings organised by the Ministry of Information, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development held at Tafo, the mayor disclosed and explained that the move was to ensure that Kumasi regained its glory as the Garden City of West Africab and also restore order in the city.

According to the Mayor, the city generates close to 2000 tonnes of waste daily and "clearing this on daily basis is a huge challenge" whereas aside from the challenges posed by the high volume of waste the assembly was faced with inadequate environmental health staff.

As part of the policy initiated when the mayor resumes office, a lot of trees have been planted on most of our streets and over hundreds of dust bins have been stationed on some vantage points on most streets in the Kumasi Metropolis.

It was on no records for over a decade when Kumasi experience flood but recently flooding in Kumasi has been a normal thing as even a child can confirm.

There is not a day that it has rained in Kumasi whereby there won't be flood.

Most of our gutters as a results are choked with refuses. Human activities at this juncture plays a major role in this ungodly act.

According to researches made on some concerns and complains from most residents in Kumasi concerning the choking gutters, people have been using gutters as a refuse dump site of which a self acclaim Ghanaian will heep refuse in the house and when it rains they will dump the refuse in the gutters. Their little mindset is that it will be taken away by the water but not knowing where it is taken them to.

These refuse will then get to a certain point it will not get it way out and as a results it will be choked for flood to happen.

I keep asking myself anytime, any day that why do some people choose to litter the streets and gutters but not their various houses and rooms?

Rise in cholera, Malaria and other sickness in the Kumasi Metropolis has been a major effect by how people mismanage the environment as a matter of littering on the major streets and gutters.

I totally agree with the mayor as to the measures he highlighted as a remedies to this situation facing the Kumasi Metropolis that, the Assembly had employed 124 street sweepers and six supervisors and acquired more communal containers and trucks to help clear the waste generated by the city dwellers.

Also the assembly has a law to check indiscriminate waste disposal, but there will be need to refresh the minds of the public again, after which anyone caught in the act will be prosecuted and the indiscipline will not be countenance any longer and that it is the time discipline was instilled in the metropolis.

Corporate entities also as part of helping the fight against indiscriminate disposal of waste provided resources for the implementation of the flagship. The donors consisting of Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Steaman waste Management, National Investment Bank, Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science and technology (KNUST), and the Shiloh United Church and International Ministry of Great Britain according to the Mayor at the pre-launch of the project in Kumasi donated the resources comprising of pick up vehicles and some waste bins by Zoomlion Ghana Limited while VIP Transport donated a compactor truck and tricycle with the Fidelity Bank donating waste bins and branded T-shirts. Other collaborators and donors consisting of Steaman waste Management (Souvenir), KNUST ( Installation of waste bins), Shiloh United Church ( donated funds for procurement of waste bins) and National Investment Bank, financing the beautification of Kumasi.

The National Investment Bank has, since November last year, contributed GHC66,950 to support the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly's " Keep the City Clean and Green" initiative.

The Coconut Producers and Exporters Association and Forest Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) donated seedlings and nursing seedlings.

Prior to the good work the mayor and his management team doing to help overcome the ungodly act of indiscriminate disposal of waste by seeking for sponsors to assist in resources and other monetary terms i will applaud them by rating them at a percentage rate of 75%.

Ensuring the sustainability of this project is also important and must be carefully looked at because there are a lot of project that was initiated during the era of the previous government and management but ended as an 'exercise in futility'.

I will then appeal to and empower the KKCG implementation Committee, headed by St. Reverend Professor Osei Safo Kantanka, former Methodist Bishop of Kumasi, and comprising civil society organizations, religious bodies, traditional authorities and environmental youth groups which have been set up to supervise vividly the successful execution of the project.

It was an indictment on the residents of Kumasi that the city could no longer be called the Garden City of West Africa bestowed on it as a commendation for their concern about the environment and I therefore suggest that religious leaders, churches, schools, institutions, media and corporate bodies, landlords, as well as residents, to take issues of insanitary conditions very seriously. Especially, Landlords and the residents must get involve in the proposed tree planting and care exercise.

The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources upon the order from the government is also expected to support the project in the provision of the requisite logistics and technical aids to boost the KMA's campaign for a clean environment.

Adequate number of bins, brooms, refuse trucks etc, must be readily available.

After these provisions are made, the Environmental Protection Agency can set up a committee to serve as vigilantes.

The members of this committee would be trained to observe, control and ensure that the citizens make use of the available waste bins.

People caught littering should be punished, either by fining or serving community service. This would deter the masses from littering.

As the best channel for dissemination of information, public education and announcements should be made through the mass media to ensure a high reach of the target group.