It is unbelievable, the way people placed in authority to serve us, neglect their duties with careless abandon and turn round to blame the people they are to serve as the cause of the problem. 

There are a few questions that needs urgent answers.  How do you expect the pedestrian to keep the city clean when there are no trash bins along the streets?

How many people will be disciplined enough to keep a biscuit wrapper in his or her bag or pocket and dispose of it when he or she gets home?  How many will willingly observe this reasonable behaviour if there are no consequences to their flouting this observance of cleanliness etiquette. 

The Buzstopboys, the group of young people dedicated to bringing sanitation awareness issues to the government and people of Ghana, posted a video of the filth at Tema Newtown and it was horrible to say the least.  

Aside of the fact that the area is not fit for human habitation, the people were openly defecating along the beach and another sad thing is that, fish that will eventually land on dining tables at people’s homes as part of their meals, were being dried amid this filth.  

The gentleman in the video highlighting the unhygienic conditions made a very profound statement concerning lack of beds in our hospitals.  He said that if we continue to live like this, a lot of people will fall sick and there will never be enough beds at the hospitals to accommodate the sick. 

There is an urgent need to put in mobile toilets as a stop gap measure as authorities grapple with how to transform the Tema Newtown into a livable place.  There are some people who are so used to the idea of open defecation at the beach, to the extent that even if you provide the mobile toilets, they will still not use them. 

With such people, the law must deal harshly with, to serve as a deterrent to others.  The punishment should not be prison term but be made to clear the beach from every trace of human excreta.

In the video, a woman was squatting at the beach together with her little girl, relieving themselves in real time despite the presence of people watching them from a distance and videoing the insanitary act as well as unlawful act. 

The other thing that worried me was the fact that she was teaching her child to become a law breaker and also an environmental terrorist. 

The Bible says that teach the child the way she should go and when she grows, she would not depart from it and she was teaching her wrong values, to become an environmental terrorist.

Under normal circumstances, women are very shy people and so with people watching, would not have done what she did but it tells a story of indoctrination to do the wrong thing. 

Apparently, just as she was teaching her daughter, it might have been passed on from her mother so it has become a generational thing.  It reminds me of a soap advert but this behaviour is of a negative generational transfer of values.

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) in charge of Tema Newtown must put personnel there to guard the beach to prevent anybody from even dreaming about going there to do the unthinkable. 

Mobile toilets must also be provided immediately so that residents in that enclave, will have no excuse whatsoever to engage in this despicable behaviour at the beach.  The refuse that has piled up there must be dealt with as a matter of national emergency. 

Otherwise should an epidemic breakout, I guess there will not be enough beds in all the hospitals in Tema combined, to take care of the sick.  It is the responsibility of MCEs and District Chief Executives (DCEs) and therefore the Assemblies, to ensure that the communities under their jurisdiction are environmentally sound. God bless.

By Laud Kissi-Mensah

After leaving the Sampson’s house, Kakraba picked up his phone and called Paa John, his buddy since senior high school.     

‘Hey Kaks’, ‘Charlie what’s up. So how did it go with Eunice’s dad?’                                                                          

 ‘Just as we thought, my brother. He asked me to sit down and interrogated me about my parents, my job, and even asked about my financial position. Charley, this Sampson family is so arrogant’.                                                                                                                                       

 ‘So what did you tell him?’                                                                                                           ‘Nothing. Basically I mentioned my job with Development Partners, and my entry into the property business, but I told him that I had just started in what is certainly a high risk business which requires big capital, and that I hadn’t quite reached financial stability.

And he made it clear that being a former diplomat and due to his high social position, he would only entertain people of good financial standing around his children. In other words, I can come around the house as a friend, but certainly not as a potential suitor. He flatly disqualified me’.                                                                                                                            ‘Unbelievable. So will you continue to bring them all those goodies from the north?’                   

‘You know the goats, guinea fowls and foodstuffs I’ve been sending to you for distribution are very cheap up north, and I often visit the market centres where the big trucks are stationed, so it’s no big deal. Indeed, these days I don’t need to go to the market at all. I send MoMo to a guy at the market, and he buys them and pays a truck driver to deliver them to you, which you deliver to your mom, my home and Eunice’s home.

And as you know, the delivery to my home is intended for my sisters, for their restaurant. So let Mr Sampson and his folks enjoy my kindness for a little longer. Very soon I will vanish from their sights’.  ‘What do you mean? Have you decided to leave Eunice?’

‘After the stories you have been telling me, do you want me to keep hanging on? I will stop by her place every now and then, maybe even take her and her two fellow terrorists to lunch or to jam, but I am easing myself out of her life. Her dad just gave me the perfect excuse’.

‘Actually, Kaks, Patricia and Amanda are quite harmless, if you ignore their pretenses about being among the most beautiful and best dressed ladies in Accra. All three are good looking, but they are certainly not among the prettiest. And their claim to be well dressed is absolutely crazy. But the dangerous person is Asantewa.

 She’s the one pumping evil ideas into their minds. I wonder why three graduate girls sit down for a little witch like Asantewa to manipulate them. She has been in this business for some time, fixing rich and prominent people with girls and cashing in. We can call her a pimp’. 

‘Paa John, many of her clients are not really rich or prominent, just greedy guys without self-confidence who pay for the connection with pretty, inexperienced girls. Eunice and her two friends are gullible, because I learnt that Asantewa is fixing them with a group of guys who talk a lot, but don’t even have decent businesses going’.                                                                                               

‘Let’s forget about these small mind girls and discuss something serious. How is business?’

‘Everything is fine up north. There are five sites in the Northern Region, after which I will tackle five each in Western North and Eastern Region. My work mainly involves supervising contractors, ensuring that they use the required materials and deliver to standard. I keep in regular touch with them, and help them to realize that mobilizing the right materials in good time saves them a lot of money.

This has gone down well. And I have an application which enables the funders to go online and see the actual progress of work. I try to be on site at crucial times, and they can always reach me when I’m down south. About the same thing is happening in Accra. We are working on ten buildings along two streets in Adabraka.

Lawyer Mills has been very helpful. The families know him very well, so they accepted the terms we offered. We offered them resettlement at Mensah Krom, and generous spending cash. They will get the final instalment when we complete the sale.

I have paid all the contractors, and made a big payment for the land after Nsawam. When I get full payment for the Adabraka project, I will concentrate on Nsawam, big time. I’ve reached agreement with the chief and his elders. I am building a decent school block and palace with community centre, then I will go on to the residential buildings. Two hundred houses’.                                                                                       

‘Kakraba, you are simply unbelievable. You just don’t give up. And Eunice doesn’t know who you are?’                                                                                                                                           ‘Not at all. Basically she sees me as regular guy with some extra change in his pocket, able to afford good entertainment. She wants a very rich guy who will spoil her, take her to Dubai and London every now and then. She doesn’t know that a good number of those guys are criminals’.                                                                                                                                      

 ‘But she’s quite a well-mannered girl, and good looking. And she seems to like you a lot. So why don’t you have patience with her, and try to win her to your way of life?’                                   

‘Paa John, you know I don’t really have the time. Eunice has two problems. She learnt snobbishness and arrogance from her parents, so it will not be easy. Moreover, together with her three friends they live in a world of their own. Very soon they will crash down to reality. So let me concentrate on my work. Hopefully I will soon meet a beautiful girl who will love me for who I naturally am.   

By Ekow de Heer