“…Stroke of my pen” : an editorial that provoked my thought

Every system runs on a policy. A nation like Ghana is no different. A lot of the problems we are encountering today is not because we are not a people who have no ideas of how to solve our problems- instead we lack the will to turn things around for the good of all.
Two days ago, August 6, I read the editorial of the Daily Graphic. The headline was “Maintaining a clean environment”. The editorial stated how cholera has become a seasonal disease and the challenge that is faced by MMDAs (Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies) in coping with the refuse that is generated by residents.
Then I began to question myself which I love to do most of the time. Does our country have a waste management policy? I stand to be corrected. Frankly, the Ghanaian way of managing waste is all about collection of waste and dumping it somewhere we name dumping site.
We keep moving dumping sites from one location to the other and the problem is still with us. How long can we continue doing the same thing which is not taking us any where?
Across this nation, how do MMDAs tackle the challenge of refuse that is generated by residents? It is only collection and dumping. In the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region for example, all the refuse generated is taken to a village called Zankuo in the Wa West District. The health hazard the dumping site poses to those villagers has not caught the attention of anyone else yet.
It looks as if our policy makers have not come in to terms with the scary nature of the waste that is generated and cannot be controlled.
The least said about those who have taken it upon themselves to go into the business of managing waste the better. There are no innovative ways of tackling this menace.
Governments in and out have pumped all the money they know will solve the problem yet, this will not go away. Why? We only pay lip service to the problem, no action.
There is one thing I wish to state with courage and candour. Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly authorities should start thinking of how to get funds for the establishment of recycling plants in their respective areas.
It is not beyond us as a nation. Let our members of parliament also begin to think of a policy if there is none and if there is any, whose duty has it been over the years to ensure that we tackle this menace head on by than doing a merry-go-round with the issue.
There is only one way-recycling.
ALEX BLEGE, kw.ameblege@hotmail.com/www.gudzetsekomla.blogspot.com