Ex-president J.J Rawlings mad at attitude of Ghanaians on sanitation

The Former President of the Republic of Ghana Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings is unhappy about the attitude of Ghanaians towards waste management and environmental sanitation. He said while others are busy protecting their water bodies and keeping their environment clean, we Ghanaians are busy littering.

“what kind of people are we?”

Mr. Rawlings commended Zoomlion and other waste management companies in Ghana and said our waste problems will have reach a crescendo if Zoomlion and for that matter the waste management companies did not give off their best.

He said he remembers Zoomlion’s humble beginnings where they used the manual tricycle to collect waste and how they have evolved from there to motorize tricycles, to waste trucks, to landfills, compost plants and now have managed to introduce a modern integrated waste management system in Ghana, a practice that most developed countries have benefited enormously.

Mr. Rawlings proposed environmental sanitation vigilante groups in every community to be mobilised and handed the power to arrest, discipline even before handing over to the security agencies for further action. He believes if properly implemented the Ghanaian bad attitude towards the management of waste will be reshaped.

The Former President said the complex nature of the waste management problem in Ghana requires not only Zoomlion and the Jospong Group of Companies but a concerted effort of all Ghanaians to commit to a clean environment.

“The role of government in ensuring that the menace is confronted in a serious manner cannot be overemphasized. In spite of the roles played by Zoomlion and others in refuse disposal and management business, there are still heaps of refuse, choked gutters, rivers overflowing with filth and our own coastal belt doomed with a sinking amount of waste”.

Ex- President Rawlings was speaking at this year’s Zoomlion and Jospong Group of Companies’ Annual Thanksgiving Service at the companies in Accra where he was guest of honour and speaker on Friday.

He said available data indicates that an overwhelming 8 million tons of plastic waste has been dumped in the Ocean as a result of bad human attitudes worldwide adding that an epidemic looms if we don’t change our bad and unconcerned attitude a situation that has affected the marines so much that fishes now eat plastics.

He expressed happiness that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s government has established the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources to deal with sanitation issues directly and opened up the opportunity for other entrepreneurs to participate in the waste management process adding this will engender fair competition, more efficient waste management practices among competitors and value for money in the system.