Mahama: Drains Are Not Garbage Bins, Stop Reckless Waste Disposal

President John Dramani Mahama has called on Ghanaians to adopt responsible waste disposal habits, warning that indiscriminate dumping of refuse into drains remains a major cause of flooding in the country.

Speaking during the National Cleanup Exercise at Alajo in the Greater Accra Region, the President said the ongoing desilting of the Alajo drain, which forms part of the Odaw stream, had revealed the extent of improper waste disposal.

According to him, workers had removed not only silt but also large quantities of plastics, household waste, engine blocks, old furniture and other bulky items from the drain.

“We must change our attitudes and stop the reckless dumping of things into the drains. The drains are not garbage bins,” President Mahama said, urging residents to use skip containers provided across the city for waste disposal instead of throwing refuse into waterways.

He acknowledged that the two-day national cleanup exercise would not be sufficient to restore all drains but announced plans to institutionalize a monthly community cleanup programme to ensure sustained sanitation efforts.

“At least one day every month, all of us should come out and clean our surroundings. That is what our traditional values were about. We were taught to keep a clean environment,” he stated.

The President attributed poor sanitation partly to changing lifestyles in urban areas, saying many people had abandoned the values of communal responsibility because of the anonymity associated with city life.

President Mahama also disclosed that the Minister for Finance had already released GH¢150 million to support flood mitigation activities, including the dredging of streams and drains.

He said the Ghana Armed Forces would continue the desilting exercise after the two-day cleanup campaign and announced plans to equip the military with additional heavy-duty machinery, including backhoes, to remove the accumulated silt and waste from drains.

According to him, the machinery would ensure that debris cleared from drains is loaded into tipper trucks and transported to designated disposal sites.

He cautioned that leaving the excavated silt and refuse beside drains would undermine the cleanup effort, as rainfall could wash the waste back into the waterways.

“Otherwise, if we don’t do that, what we have done will be in vain because when the rains come, it will just wash all those silt and garbage back into the drain,” the President said.

The National Cleanup Exercise forms part of the government’s broader flood mitigation strategy following recent floods in parts of Greater Accra and other regions, with authorities aiming to improve sanitation, prevent flooding and encourage greater public participation in keeping communities clean.