This
incident happened a few metres from Caprice junction, on the stretch leading to
Circle. There a few food joints dotted along the road. The trotro (mini van) I
was in was stuck in traffic as usual. And that was when it all happened.
One of the
sellers, who from indication sell breakfast-tea, bread, indomie, eggs- stepped
from her ‘cubicle’ with a silver bowl in hand. I’m sure most of us in the car
thought she was going to throw away water into the nearby drain in front of her
just like I did. We realized it wasn’t only water she was pouring into the
drain but rubbish tucked into a polythene bag as well.
The drain
was covered but she managed to push the polythene bag full of rubbish through a
small opened into it. The driver of the trotro went berserk and confronted her.
Her attitude was one of indifference, as if what she had done minutes ago was ‘alright’.
She felt no guilt whatsoever for what she did.
I sat in the
car musing in silence, trying to point exactly what would compel this woman to
do what she did. Has it anything to do with ignorance (which I doubt), or lack
of law enforcement, or sheer stupidity? Or BOTH?
I know there
are many of her likes who have found the drains within the city a convenient
channel to dump waste of all kinds (solid or liquid) and hope the rains come
and wash them away. Yet these are the same people who’ll turn around and accuse
the government and her agencies for reneging on their responsibilities should
there be flooding at their place of residence or community.
Remember
also, that side of town- Caprice, Alajo, Circle and its environs are flood
prone areas and such actions like the one perpetuated by this seller contribute
to such disasters. The environment doesn’t belong to the government. It belongs
to us and as such we must be responsible in making it clean and habitable.
I woke up
all happy but that few minutes of irresponsibility has dented my mood. Let’s
all be responsible.
I doubt if they understand the gravity of their actions or maybe dont care... it takes alot of education
ReplyDeleteI've nagged about this in Kaneshie saa I'm tired sef
DeleteDuring the last heavy rain, we all say the pictures of Kaneshie. The road under the foot bridge looked like a pool.
ReplyDeleteThe new road these days have cover gutters with small side pockets for water to enter. The Kaneshie Market women would rather force rubbish into the small side pockets than put it in the bin. Because of this water doesn't escape. During the flood they were wailing and calling for government to help them. The moment the water receded I saw another woman forcing rubbish into the hole. I taya give them sef
pass through Tema station and I bet you'll cry. The pungent smell from the drains could cause you to bloat
DeleteThis is the embodiment of our issues as a country
ReplyDeleteIgnorance definitely not! Lack of enforcement and sheer stupidity spot on!
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ReplyDeleteYou see, Swaye, our society determines what is right and wrong. But then in the Ghanaian society, we are fronted with double elements which seems to negative each other.
ReplyDeleteIf you are familiar with Goffman's "Impression management", you would realize that Ghanaians have built up a BACK STAGE morality like "Oh! It's evil or unthinkable to throw rubbish in the gutter" but in the FRONT STAGE what happens; :We pretend to the effect that there is nothing wrong with throwing rubbish around.
After all, zoomlion or whatever lion will come and collect the rubbish. It's like our sense of morality have been impaired or we are living in a double standard society.
We all know for a fact that we should not throw rubbish away but what happens? We just don't care. It seems that we are all offenders (98% of Ghanaians).
Its high-time we wake up to the realization that, look, enough is enough. This bad behavior must be stopped. It's just embarrassing
It is always sad the attitude of most Ghanaians, you sit in a car and people are flying plastics through the car doors and when you point it out to them not only the one you corrected will be offended but others in the car as well. It is common sense and has nothing to do with illiteracy. I am now tempted to believe the statement someone made on TV that "corruption is the least of our problems, it is indiscipline that is our problem."
ReplyDeleteWhat is surprising is that we know what is good or right but fail to do it. pathetic
Deleteits sad though but how, when and what are the remedies? i have always advocated we have at least 3 military men on each stretch of our streets to curb this insanity. Ghanaians are portraying indiscipline as freedom
ReplyDeleteThe Ghanaian is holy on the inside but dirty on the outside. The only way to get him clean on the inside is to enforce laws where either he is beaten (yes I said that) or fined. Of course I prefer the latter because ideally it would mean more money for public institutions to run more enforcement and innovate new ideas of changing the Ghanaian mentality. Right now the AMA has laws, they are not enforced unless 200 people die from cholera then we realize there is a crisis.
ReplyDeleteI've heard a school of thought that Ghanaians will change their attitude after a serious disaster engulfs us all because that is how human beings are. Some of us will do our damndest to make sure we don't get to that point by continuing to spark similar conversations and innovating ways to make it more convenient (and eventually profitable) for the Ghanaian to do the right thing.