The clean streets of Assin Kushea (Credit: Prince Charles Affum)
The news from a few days ago that read with the headline, "AMA delegation in Kigali to understudy sanitation system," appeared worrisome and here is why.
In the Central region of Ghana, in the town of Assin Kushea, Nana Prah Agyensaim VI, paramount chief of the area, is leading the pack of leaders who are employing model sanitation measures in their communities.
According to a post made by journalist, Solomon Mensah, "I went to Assin Kushea in the Central Region to do a story on the town's cleanliness. My three days or so in Kushea was great."
He continued that, "I interviewed the Chief of the area as well as residents. They clean the community every Friday and Nana Prah Agyensaim VI himself partakes in the exercise (whenever he is available). So, who are you to stay home or litter afterwards?"
In the news report on the visit by a delegation from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to the capital city of Rwanda to study the way the system there is working to make it the neatest city in Africa, it states in part that, "the visit will enable the delegation to learn at first-hand how those practices could be adopted for implementation."
The AMA delegation in Kigali, went with the Africa Environmental Sanitation Consult (AFESC), the research and consultancy firm of Jospong Group of Companies and sanitation giant, Zoomlion.
But what is really the best example for getting our sanitation situation right?
"Nana Prah Agyensam told me they consciously teach pupils in school about cleanliness. My checks at the town's hospital revealed they had not had a single malaria case recorded by the residents proper of Kushea for some years. All malaria cases were reported at the hospital by communities that surround Kushea who attend hospital in the clean city," Solomon Mensah's post said.
Like this colleague journalist, this reporter posits, "If the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and its associates really want to learn about good sanitation practices, they could have gone to Kushea."
And by the way what happened to the monthly clean-up exercises that used to take place in our market places across the country? Have we grown too tired of that strategy already?
