COVID-19 Heralds Mass Cleanup in Ghanaian Capital

Special Coronavirus (COVID-19)

As residents in Ghana’s capital, Accra, are told to stay indoors to help combat the spread of COVID-19, government and city authorities are tackling the waste that sits in open drains or in piles on streets. For decades, Accra has had major issues with its waste management. Demand for services has not kept up with population growth. Research shows about a quarter of the trash Accra generates is not collected. It ends up an eyesore, littered through the streets, in drains, on the beaches or is burned by residents.

The city’s sanitation issues have been linked to annual flooding and have had health and economic consequences. In 2017, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo pledged to make Accra Africa’s cleanest city.This weekend Ghanaian authorities have been cleaning the city while it is under a partial lockdown. Ghana has 214 confirmed cases of COVID-19, most in Accra.

The point of the exercise this weekend, initiated by Ghana’s Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, was to clear public spaces of accumulated refuse, to set a national standard for city cleanliness and to support the fight against the COVID-19 spread, the ministry’s director of sanitation, Anthony Mensah, said. The exercise is a joint effort between local and central government and the private sector.

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