President Nana must speak about plastic waste

African proverbs are packed with so much wisdom and truths. Here are a few that acknowledge the deep wisdom of our elders. “The elders of a community are the voice of God.” “A village without the elderly is like a well without water.” “The words of the elders do not lock all the doors; they leave the right door open.” “The mouth of an elderly person is without teeth; but never without words of wisdom.”

THE POWER OF PRESIDENTIAL VOICE

Presidential voice is powerful beyond measure; it has moral authority. Fortunately, President Nana Akufo-Addo is a mature man who is firmly in the camp of elders. President Nana is imbued with the power of presidential voice and often says very noble and heart-warming things. So, when he speaks about something that is threatening to destroy our land, we will listen. When he articulates his concerns about plastic waste, it will get our attention. When he gives us his vision and plans about what to do to resolve the plastic waste crisis, we will pay attention. 

The power of presidential voice is that it can set a national agenda and show the citizens the way to go. Presidential voice can affirm already held thoughts of citizens, and can give new directions that most citizens might not have hitherto thought about. Presidential voice is therefore sought after urgently to give national direction on how to deal with the plastic waste menace.

I have been waiting and hoping for the past 22 months of President Nana’s tenure as the chief elder of Ghana to hear his clear voice on plastic waste. I have not heard it, yet. He might have said something that was not loud enough for me to hear. 

Whilst it is not wise to compare problems and determine which one is worse, truthfully, the plastic waste problem is as horrible as galamsey. They both destroy our land and water bodies. They both compromise our survival. They both need the commitment of the highest level of leadership to resolve. Just as President Nana was bold and decisive on galamsey, it is critical for him to make bold and decisive pronouncements to place Ghana on the right path to deal with the plastic waste scourge. 

THE WORLD IS REACHING A TIPPING POINT ON PLASTICS

Ghana prides itself as the first country south of the Sahara to gain political independence. Since then, we have laid claims to being first in various things. At some point, we even pushed a national slogan of being the ‘gateway into Africa’. 

When it comes to the matter of responsible management of plastic waste, Rwanda, which came out of genocide 24 years ago, has already taken over the pride of place by being the first country in the world to effectively ban single-use plastics. On a visit to the Rwanda capital Kigali, I packed my footwear in a black plastic bag. Whilst there, the bag got torn. Since I was unable to dump it into their garbage bins, I brought the torn plastic bag back to Ghana because the message over there is very clear: we do not want plastic waste. 

Increasingly, the world is waking up to the dangers of plastic waste and several countries are taking bold and decisive decisions to reduce usage and dependence of plastics, especially of single-use plastics.

As recently as late October (three weeks ago), the European Union Parliament voted to ban single-use plastics by 2021 (just three years from now). The Europeans acknowledge the folly in using certain plastic products like straws, plates, cups and cotton buds just once and throwing them away. They realized the environmental recklessness in using a straw to suck fanta or fruit juice from a cup or bottle, knowing that the straw will not decompose for hundreds of years. 

The expressed collective concern is that plastic waste ends up in the oceans, making up 70 percent of marine litter. Scientists have established that plastic waste ends up being consumed by marine life—the fishes and their cousins. Of course a whale or salmon cannot tell the difference between plastic and real natural marine food. As the fishes ingest plastics, they pass it on to us humans who eat the fish. This suggests that you and I are unintentionally eating plastics.

WHAT IS GHANA’S RESPONSE TO PLASTIC WASTE REDUCTION?

Since the world is reaching a tipping point on plastic waste, why is Ghana not also taking bold and decisive actions about plastics? Methinks that Ghana must for a bare minimum, ban single-use plastics as soon as possible. Clearly, we cannot touch “pure water” in sachet pouches and plastic water bottles because immediately, we do not have alternatives for the purpose they serve. But we can ban those plastics we do not really use, but toss about every day. 

I doubt if there is anyone in Ghana (adults and children) who does not know within their bone marrow that plastics are destructive to our land. We all know that plastics choke gutters, float in our water bodies and the Atlantic Ocean, litter our neighbourhoods to give us a filthy look, and especially that plastics do not decompose. 

We live plastic lives. If we think deeply about it, we will quickly take measures to curb the mindlessness at which we depend on single-use plastics. All the evidence suggest that we do not think about it all. Irrationality drives plastic usage. What type of civilization is this?

On any God-given day, we buy any number of meaningless items. The seller gleefully places the items in plastic bags. We happily take our package home. Promptly, without giving any though to the package, we take out our new purchase, and then toss the plastic bag into the waste bin. 

But we may not even arrive home at all with our package. Whilst in motion going about life, we may eat the roasted plantain or whatever we purchased, and then toss the plastic waste anywhere. We do not spare the roadside at all because that zone does not belong to anyone in particular. 

During our lifetime, some (most) of us do not make any contribution to the world. It is therefore unconscionable that our plastic waste will survive some 100s of years after our death. Whilst our bodies decompose and become one with nature, the plastics we throw away today will hang out in the ocean or river or farmland for centuries after we are gone and no one even remembers that we ever passed through this life. 

Dorisdartey@gmail.com