One more time; keep the City Clean

Freetown after Independence in 1961 up to the early seventies was a reasonably clean city. Local dump sites for garbage were strategically located all over the city and were regularly cleared out by either the City Council or the Ministry of Health. The City Council was then a vibrant entity focused on providing municipal services to the City. Drains were cleaned out regularly by Council or through the services of Contractors such as the late Ajibu Jalloh and others. Markets were washed through an arrangement with the Fire Force. 

Sanitary Inspectors were active in seeing that residents maintained a hygienic environment and defaulters were summoned to appear before a Sanitary Court at Cline Town. Fines were sometimes meted out to offenders. Particular attention was paid to Figure 1. Natural Drainage Channel at Savage St eliminating breeding places of mosquitoes such as blocked drains and stagnant pools of water. There was continuous sensitization on the radio and television on keeping the city clean. One can recall the radio advert – “You don sweep you yard? “You don clean you ose”-regularly aired over the then Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service. Much credit is due for the continuous cleaning and sensitization including regular removal of street traders to the Late President Siaka Stevens and the then Mayors of the City, Akibo- Betts and others.

Today some thirty years after and with the engagement of a Waste Disposal Contractor, Masada, the City is far from being clean. The reason being that there are new challenges posed by the use of disposable containers, a much larger population, uncontrolled street trading, non-existent sanitary officers, non enforcement of sanitary bye-laws by both the City Council and the Ministry of Health and weak leadership in this direction. It is not immediately clear why the City Council appears to be particularly hamstrung in implementing bye laws meant to prevent insanitary practices. It would certainly help if the Ministry of Local Government can provide more support to the Freetown City Council in this direction as it is evident that some residents are bent on disposing of their solid waste in the drains and at street corners even though there are alternatives such as using the many waste disposal agents who work with Masada. Local boys providing this service should be encouraged to register with the City Council and be bound by their regulations etc and cooperate/ complement Masada.
At the policy making level it is now time for new policies to be put in place to tackle emergent challenges. The extra load being put on the City’s garbage collection system can only be satisfactorily dealt with if there are adequate funds. It is fair to say that those who pollute most should pay more for the cleaning up. Much of the non biodegradable waste in Freetown comes from disposable water packets and soft drink bottles. It is interesting to note that while soft drink manufacturers using reusable bottles have a mechanism with associated costs to recover their used bottles, those using disposable bottles do not have any such costs but sell their drinks at the same cost or nearly so. It would make sense to apply a tax or some levy to these products to pay for the extra cost involved in clearing them up and for their safe disposal. Part of this tax or levy can be used to pay for returned empties. This will be similar to the money paid for returning reusable products.
Plastic sachets and bottles such as those shown in the picture accumulating at Savage Street provide a breeding habitat for malaria carrying mosquitoes and eventually end up in the sea upsetting marine life. They may fill up the mangroves and affect marine life there. It is known that turtles and some sea birds have died after feeding on bits of plastic. Movement of fish during breeding will also be restricted.
Already accumulated plastic trash the size of Texas is floating in the Pacific area. This should serve as a warning to all.
Lebanon recently had a river of trash waiting to be disposed off stretching a very long distance. This shows that even after collection these disposable containers can still be a headache for disposal. There must be a radical approach to controlling this kind of garbage and outright banning will not be out of place. London recently banned plastic carrier bags.
Keeping our Cities clean should be at the top of our health programs at the moment in the wake of the recent Ebola outbreak and in the light of the ongoing Zika virus outbreak in Brazil and South America. The Zika virus infection has been linked to microcephaly in newly born infants whose mothers have been infected by this virus during pregnancy. Microcephaly is a condition where the baby is born with an abnormally small head and may result in speech and learning disabilities. The virus is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito and control in Brazil has largely been through improved sanitation involving regular cleaning of the Cities to deprive mosquitoes of breeding places.
Furthermore, there is currently a yellow fever outbreak in Angola which is again spread by mosquitoes. To make matters more serious there is also an outbreak of drug resistant Malaria in South East Asia which is giving WHO serious concern. With modern air travel bringing countries ever closer together we should be taking precautionary measures against the introduction and spread of these entire mosquito borne diseases. At the moment the greatest weapon used by all countries is keeping the environment CLEAN. The Government, local councils and people must go into action now in keeping our environment clean.
Akunna Africanus
Thursday May 19, 2016

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