It is unimaginable, but true. An Accra Court has convicted two men to three months’ imprisonment with hard labour for illegally dumping refuse at the Accra Post Office.
The convicts, Albert Okai and Amoako Darko, were handed the jail term after failing to pay a fine of 50 penalty units (GH¢600) each. They are to serve their sentence at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison.
A third accused person, Michael Osei, pleaded not guilty and has been remanded in custody for one week, with his case set to continue in court.
It is unbelievable that human beings born of a woman would take it into their heads to dump refuse at a location like the Central Post Office in Accra, yet this is what is reported to have happened. What is worse, indeed fearsome, is that the practice is not even an anomaly, but a general practice in which many people engage.
Trash and garbage is to be found on most of the streets of Ghana, not just in Accra, and not just at the Central Post Office. It seems that to most Ghanaians, littering is the norm rather than the exception. The same norms see Ghanaian men, some often very well-dressed, seen urinating in public.
In Ghana, men and women who live by the shore are often to be seen in broad daylight defecating on the beaches. It is normal; everybody in those communities do it.
It is the practice, rather than the exception, that people in public offices would demand money before giving services; every public servant does it.
The first thing every ordinary Ghanaian who is employed thinks to do is to steal from his employer; so much so that it is impossible to operate a viable business concern in Ghana. Virtually everybody is a thief.
A person can easily find themselves in leadership position in any church and religious organization in Ghana, if the person flaunts bags of cash. The church or religious organization would really not care a hoot where the money comes from.
This same base behavior is the reason why Ghanaian youth are committed to destroying all rivers and arable land in pursuit of gold.
The litany of complaints goes on and on, and all the complaints are indicative of a deep moral malaise which, unless addressed, would never see this nation assume its true potential.
We have to change, and to do so, there must be a committed, centralized effort to re-educate our population to rediscover our lost moral compass. Unless this is done, we would only continue to see the repetition of such lunacy as dumping refuse at the center of the capital city.
(Editorial of the Daily Searchlight of 29th September, 2025).
