GH¢2 billion was collected to clean Ghana. So why is Accra still this filthy?
A month after floods tore through Accra, JoyNews Explains went looking for one of the quieter culprits behind the crisis: the everyday filth sitting in the city’s markets, drains, lorry stations, and roadsides. It didn’t take long to find it. But this isn’t just a story about rubbish. It’s a story about GH¢2.03 billion. That’s […]
In July 2026, President John Dramani Mahama declared two days as National General Cleaning Days in regions affected by floods, aiming to improve sanitation and prevent disease outbreaks. However, this initiative faced a legal challenge, as journalist Samson Lardy Anyenini argued that compelling citizens to participate was not backed by any national law.
On the one hand, there is a clear accountability issue: despite collecting GH¢2.03 billion through the Sanitation and Pollution Levy since 2021, only about 80% (roughly GH¢1.2 billion) has been spent on maintaining landfill sites and waste treatment facilities. This leaves crucial funds unspent for key objectives such as ending open defecation, a stated core objective of the levy.
On the other hand, much of the filth seen in Accra's markets, drains, and streets is due to a lack of proper waste disposal, rather than a funding gap. Fixing this issue costs nothing and does not require a directive, levy, or law to address. The solution lies in simply using bins rather than littering on the ground.
In conclusion, the clean-up efforts in Ghana are not a single failure, but two - one requiring financial intervention, and the other a matter of individual responsibility and behavior.
Written by urgent.news from MyJoyOnline Ghana's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
