By: Celestine Avi
President John Dramani Mahama has expressed deep concern over the indiscriminate dumping of refuse from moving vehicles onto highways, describing the practice as one of the most dangerous threats to environmental cleanliness.
Speaking at the relaunch of the National Sanitation Day at the Institute of Local Government Studies in Accra on Saturday, the President recalled a disturbing scene he witnessed while on a campaign tour.
“One day we were driving during the campaign, and one of our vehicles burst a tire. And so we stopped, the whole convoy stopped to repair the tire. I was standing by the roadside, and all along the highway were bottles, plastics, take-away bowls; just name it,” President Mahama lamented.
He stressed that unlike refuse dumped within communities which can be cleared during sanitation exercises, waste littered across highways remains scattered and difficult to clean.
“At least, in the communities, if you dump it here, we can do National Sanitation Day and clean it up. But what about on the Accra–Bolgatanga road? When are we going to get people to go all along the road to Bolga and pick things up?” he questioned.
President Mahama warned that refuse disposal from vehicles is “even more dangerous”, as it spreads filth beyond community reach and undermines efforts to build a culture of sanitation discipline.
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President Mahama relaunches National Sanitation Day, calls for cleaner communities
