Ghanaians have not learnt lessons from the June 3 flood and fire disasters which claimed over 150 lives and injured hundreds last year, Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, Minister of State (Public-Private-Partnerships) has said.
“Collectively, we have not learnt enough. I can see people still dumping rubbish in gutters. I see people being careless about how they dispose their waste and with all efforts of dredging gutters that were partly responsible [for the flooding], we are still filling them with garbage and choking drains. That is a problem which appears to be an innate issue with us about how we keep going about with sanitation issues.”
He admitted in an interview on Class91.3FM with Prince Minkah on Class FM’s Executive Breakfast Show Wednesday June 1 that enforcement of existing sanitation by-laws in the country has been an issue because “you arrest somebody and then the whole community is coming to you to beg for that person and label enforcers as bad people”.
He expressed reservations with the pressure brought to bear on law enforcers by Ghanaians to let their kith and kin off the hook any time they fall foul of the law.
“We need strong men, not just strong institutions. If we have strong institutions and we don’t have strong men to ensure that the institutions are run properly, you will have a problem.
“You put a human being in a particular situation and that situation demands an action. If he doesn’t act that way, then the institutions become useless so we will need people who are committed to enforcing the laws, we need people who are committed in ensuring that the institutions are workable and we need people who are patriotic enough not to allow themselves to be corrupted by the individuals who they deal with every day,” he indicated.
Mr Pelpuo, who is also the Member of Parliament for Wa Central Constituency said “we need somebody who should rise above the decay of our society, so those are the people we need”.
<<Print>>