Public Agenda (Accra)
3 July 2009
editorial
All over Accra, the city authorities have embarked on a clean up exercise in readiness for the historic visit of the first Black American President, President Barack Obama. President Obama's visit to Ghana will be a landmark event because Ghana is undoubtedly the heart of Pan Africanism. Besides, Ghana is home to the remains of the founders of Pan Africanism - W.E.B. Dubois, Kwame Nkrumah and George Padmore.
This explains why Obama chose Ghana over Nigeria, South Africa and even his native Kenya in his first African visit. This also explains why our government and city authorities have turned their attention on one particular menace in Accra - filth. In fact filth and our inability to manage it is one of the emerging threats to our development.
Thanks to the clearing of hawkers and street vendors and the whitewashing of pavements around the city, Accra is already looking like a clean city, all because President Obama will be arriving in Accra next week. Ordinarily, this newspaper has no problem with any effort and money invested in keeping our capital and the entire country clean. This is because filth generates mosquitoes and other communicable diseases like cholera and dysentery on which government spends millions of dollars each year.
Once more with the visit of a powerful President just around the corner, we are busily whitewashing Accra to create the erroneous impression that our capital is neat. We can say with certainty that as soon as the euphoria surrounding Obama?s visit ends, Accra will be back to its old ways-filth and lawlessness. It is becoming the norm rather than the exception that we only undertake such exercises when foreign dignitaries are about to set foot on our soils.
This newspaper's worry has to do with our policy to do massive clean ups anytime we have major conferences or powerful presidents visiting Ghana. This only implies that Ghanaians do not deserve to live in a clean environment unless we have the Queen of England or a president of U. S visiting us. A clean and safe environment is one of the fundamental human rights that must be enjoyed by everyone. For very serious countries, where planning is key to development, they do not have to wait for the visit of a U.S. President or Japanese Prime Minister before the streets are whitewashed and mountains of garbage cleared.
This explains why Ghana is losing out on the tourism industry. The most preferred destination for tourists in West Africa is not Ghana. It is Senegal and The Gambia, even though Ghana has more tourist sites than Senegal and The Gambia combined. Of course all Ghanaians are to blame for the current insanitary condition Accra and the major cities find themselves.
It is hoped that this time round the eagerness with which we have approached the current cleaning exercise of Accra will not end with the Obama trip. War against littering should not be a nine-day wonder it should be fought on all fronts by all sections of society. We recommend the setting aside of particular day each month, for a collective mass cleaning exercise. With such a progressive approach, we are sure to save the nation of its scarce resources and maintain a healthy population needed for high productivity as well.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Public Agenda. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
