President John Dramani Mahama has urged Ghanaians to stop using drains as dumping grounds, warning that indiscriminate disposal of waste is worsening flooding risks and undermining efforts to protect communities.
Speaking during an inspection of the Alajo Drains as part of the National Clean-Up Exercise, President Mahama said the June 29 floods should serve as a wake-up call for citizens to change their behaviour and take greater responsibility for keeping the environment clean.
President Mahama said that the Alajo drain flooded because it has been blocked by a combination of silt, plastics, and household waste, preventing the free flow of water.
“We have to clear the drains. We just worked on this Alajo drain. It’s part of the outdoor stream. And there are two problems in it. There’s silt, and then there’s also plastics and household waste,” he said.
President Mahama said some of the items found in drains demonstrated the extent of irresponsible waste disposal practices, with people discarding materials that should have been properly disposed of elsewhere.
“You find in a drain like this, there are Indian blocks. People discard an Indian block and throw it in the drain. Old furniture, dining tables, everything you can find in that drain,” he said
He stressed that drains were designed to carry water and not serve as waste disposal points.
“The drains are not garbage instruments. If you want to dispose of something, you know how to dispose of it,” he said.
The President urged residents to make use of designated waste disposal facilities, including skip containers placed across the city, instead of dumping refuse into drainage systems.
“We have skip trucks that leave containers all over the city. Just go and throw your garbage into the skip, and the truck will come and pick it and take it where it has to take it,” he said.
President Mahama said changing sanitation habits would require a return to traditional values where communities collectively maintained clean surroundings, arguing that urbanisation had weakened that sense of responsibility.
“We are taught to keep a clean environment. But when we all leave our hometowns and we come, because of the anonymity of urbanization, we think that nobody watches us. So we dump those values, and we live in filth. We must change that attitude,” he said.
He also thanked the security services, traditional leaders and volunteers who joined the exercise, describing the flood response as an opportunity for the country to demonstrate resilience.
“The floods have been devastating, but we must show that we are a resilient nation and we can bounce back even better,” he said.
President Mahama added that the government would continue drainage improvement efforts beyond the two-day clean-up exercise, saying additional equipment would be provided to ensure removed waste and silt did not return to waterways.
He said failure to properly remove and dispose of waste collected from drains would render the exercise ineffective.
“Otherwise, if we don’t do that, what we would have done would be in vain, because when the rains come, it will just wash all those silt and garbage back into the drain,” he said.