Wanted: A permanent solution to sanitation challenges

Markets in the Greater Accra Region will be closed today to make way for a clean-up exercise.

It is an initiative of the Greater Accra Market Association and is to last from 6a.m. to noon.  As a result, there would be no trading activities within the markets until the cleaning is over. 

The filth and insanitary conditions in the region, especially in our  markets where we get our food supplies, have been a big problem for a long time now, with a permanent solution remaining elusive. 

The effects of this situation is even more pronounced any time it rains; drains get choked, streets and homes are flooded, while the markets become a disgusting sight.

 It is obvious that the lack of needed facilities at the market, including toilets, is a contributory factor.  In cases where receptacles have been provided for rubbish, they overflow for months and the traders have no choice but to dump rubbish on the ground where they also display food items for sale to the public.    

The Daily Graphic has done a number of stories and editorials drawing attention to the problem and the need to find a way to solve it. Our only interest for doing this is to prompt the needed action to salvage the situation, since  insanitary conditions can only lead to one thing -- diseases. The current outbreak of cholera is a direct result of this insanitary situation and the burden on our health facilities has become a challenge. 

A number of individuals have also shown concern. The Vice-President had to leave his office to go on inspection and even  issue an ultimatum for rubbish to be cleared from the markets. But we are very happy that the market women themselves have taken the initiative to clean the markets. Even though their action may lead to some loss in profits, we believe that the sacrifice is worth it.  After all, we are supposed to be responsible for keeping our environment clean. The traders and customers will be more comfortable trading and buying in a clean environment.  In normal times, cleaning one's own environment would not have attracted any attention but we do not live in normal times, since we are drowning in our own waste.  

The Daily Graphic, however, still has a worry; and that is, where will the rubbish cleared from the market be dumped? Will we have the same situation where gutters are cleared only for the waste to be left by the sides of the gutter to find its way back into the drains?

The country still has the enormous challenge of developing a sustainable waste management system where we would have systems like compost and recycling plants, since landfill sites are totally obsolete.

For as long as we live, we will generate waste, making the need for a waste management system a non-negotiable matter.

We applaud the market association for its initiative and call on members to be actively involved in today’s cleanup in the hope that the exercise will be a continuous practice. We call on the Local Government Ministry and the assemblies to urgently find a more sustainable answer to the sanitation problem.