‘Accra is not a dirty city, the people in it are’: Can Pastor Otabil help us understand him better?

What is it with my chancellor that he sees this country differently depending on which political party is in power?

Once upon a time, the problems of this country in the estimation of Pastor Mensah Otabil, is the leadership, he even went to the extent of saying the country was on auto-pilot.

This happened when the National Democratic Congress (NDC), was managing the affairs of the country. If there is anything I could credit the man for, it is his consistency.

If the NDC was in power today with the upsurge of armed robbery, I can just imagine what Pastor Mensah Otabil, will say.
Even God, who is omnipotent and all-knowing gave mankind the Ten Commandments to guide us in our dealings with him, as well as amongst ourselves.
It is because of law and order that, we also as human beings decide among ourselves to select leaders to help steer our affairs.

Order is very important, even in the animal kingdom there is order. Chaos will break out where there is no order and so it will be completely erroneous for someone to suggest that, the people are the problem, not the leadership.

Addressing his congregation during a sermon, Dr. Mensah Otabil, argued that the main reason for Accra’s dirty streets and chocked gutters are the poor sanitation habits of persons living in the city.
“The ground never produces rubbish or bottles … Accra is not dirty, it’s the persons living in it that are dirty, Accra can’t be dirty on its own” he argued.

The man of God, is at it again, he has started his sermon of bad people and good leaders, because the New Patriotic Party is in office.
It is a proven fact that, a country with no laws is nothing but a jungle, man since creation, has always been governed and given direction, if he is to behave well.

God destroyed nations and generations, because they failed to obey him, how much less a people to its country.
Man needs to be regulated, indeed the ground never produces rubbish, this Is not in dispute, it is the human beings living in it, so having known this, what has leadership done about it?

We have bi-laws, regulations, with accompanying punishment, it is the duty of those with the responsibility to ensure that, I do not flout the bi-laws and if I do, I pay the penalty for it, to ensure that, the city is kept clean.
Our problem in this country is that, we always put the cart before the horse, how many landfill or dunping sites do we have in the country?
How many waste bins do we have in our markets and localities?

How often do waste disposal companies come around to collect the rubbish?
When the National Sanitation exercise was launched some years back, residents will gather sweep their surroundings, gather the rubbish waiting for waste disposal cars to come and collect, the rubbish will be there, until it rains and then it goes back into the gutters.

One of the bi-laws of the Accra Metropolitan Area (AMA) is for every house to have a toilet facility, there is a penalty for non adherence, but has the AMA ever enforced the bi-law?

Serious countries, have laws on managing plastic waste, plastic bags are not easily degradable, and most of the rubbish we generate in this country is from plastic. Rwanda, an African country, has banned the use of plastic bags in the country, but in Ghana, it is the preferred choice in everything we do.
Dr. Otabil, the people are not dirty, it is the lack of enforcement of the laws that, have made the people dirty.

When we are provided with enough waste bins, when the waste disposal companies are up to the task and collect the waste on schedule, when we have enough landfill sites, when every house in the city, has toilet facility, and when enforce all the bi-laws and Accra is still dirty, then we can say, the people are dirty.

Until all these are done, we cannot pass the blame to the innocent citizenry. No sane human being, will see a waste bin and drop a rubbish in the gutter.
No responsible citizen, will be provided with a place of convenience and will defecate in a polythene bag and throw it in the gutter.

No market woman, who is conscious of her surroundings, when provided with waste bin and the rubbish collected on time, when it gets full, will litter where she sits and eats.

Dr. Otabil, must recognize that, no human being is born stupid, it is the society that makes them. We have given our lives to our leaders, especially politicians to manage, that is why we elect them.

Our leaders must show the way, we cannot blame the people for the filth we have the country in. The United States of America is clean not because the people want to, but the systems are working, you dare not litter, because you will be arrested and fine.
Dr. Mensah Otabil, please help us to understand you better, for once can you blame our leaders too.