The cholera epidemic is an annual affair in Ghana. Many citizens of this country have been buried due to cholera. Anytime it comes up I see on TV and other media, efforts being made by the district/municipal/metropolitan assemblies affected to clean up filthy areas. Campaigns by Ghana Health Service and some NGOs directed at reducing the causes become regular. In fact cholera prevention has been treated like flooding in the cities; only gaining attention when it strikes.

From the media, what I can say contributes to cause cholera is filth. Generation of filth is a natural consequence of habitation. What we have to be concerned with is whether laws have been passed to regulate people’s behaviour in this regard, and whose duty it is to ensure compliance with these laws.

The Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) contains a lot of regulation touching on unhygienic conduct: Section 286. Selling unwholesome food

A person who sells, or prepares or offers for sale, as being fit for consumption as food or drink, a thing which that person knows or has reason to believe that it is in a condition of putrefaction, adulteration, or

other cause, as to be likely to be noxious to health, commits a misdemeanour.

Section 296. Throwing rubbish in street: A person commits a criminal offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding ten penalty units who;

(a) in a town place, causes or permits to be placed, a carrion, filth, dirt, refuse, or rubbish, or any other offensive or otherwise unwholesome matter, on a street, yard, an enclosure, or open space, except at a place set apart by the local authority or the health officer for that purpose; or

(r) being the occupier of a land or building situate in a town, does not clear and keep free from dirt, underbush, underwood, weeds, high grass, rubbish, rags, broken bottles, refuse, and an offensive matter, filling up the holes with stones, gravels or other like materials, the streets or roads, at the front-back, and sides of it, with the drains, gutters, and channels on it; and, if the building is unoccupied, the owner shall for this purpose be deemed the occupier; but where there are two lots of land contiguous to a street, road, drain, gutter, or channel, and facing each other, the occupier of each lot is responsible for keeping clean only the half of the street or road, and the drain, gutter, or channel nearest to the occupier’s lot;

Section 297 adds more under the heading; Rubbish in front of premises

I am very sure there are other legislation prescribing how people should conduct themselves in ways that will not cause hygienic related health problems.

Whose duty is it to ensure that people obey Act 29 and related legislation?

Article 88 (1), (3) and (4) of the 1992 constitution gives the A-G the duty to carry out criminal prosecutions in Ghana:

(1) There shall be an Attorney-General of Ghana who shall be a Minister of State and the principal legal adviser to the Government.

(3) The Attorney-General shall be responsible for the initiation and conduct of all prosecutions of criminal offences.

(4) All offences prosecuted in the name of the Republic of Ghana shall be at the suit of the Attorney-General or any other person authorised by him in accordance with any law.

It is clear that the constitution gives the A-G the duty to ensure obedience to Act 29. If anyone transgresses it, the A-G is required to prosecute that person. Is the A-G living up to his/her duties? The A-G should sit up and perform his/her duties and save us from filth which causes cholera and other health problems.

From Kardiri Sibiri Edmond

Gwollu, UWR