KEEP GHANA CLEAN IN MEMORY OF ALIU MAHAMA.

Aliu Mahama will be much happier in his grave if programmes marking his one year anniversary celebration included an activity from his ANTI-IDISCIPLINE INITIATIVE.

As a disciplinarian and principled statesman, the late Vice President Aliu Mahama under the Kufour administration launched an anti-indiscipline initiative in May 2002 which included ‘keep Ghana clean campaign” and tree planting exercise. Before the introduction of this initiative, it used to be very common to see trash flying out of cars as passengers indiscriminately and carelessly throw out filth on the street. Pedestrian were no exception of this misbehavior. Coupled with this bad attitude was how common it was to see people urinating anyhow and anywhere publicly.

Aliu Mahama’s Keep Ghana Clean Campaign with series of educative media and public announcements created the awareness of proper waste disposal. This campaign made it some sort embarrassing for people to openly liter the streets. It also made Ghanaians to be each other’s keeper by drawing the attention of others who ignorantly throw trash in the streets. Under the same initiative in September 2002, he led a team of delegation to plant trees in Accra to kick of his 7-year National Tree Planting Exercise. This according to him was to check the rate at which the country's vegetation was being depleted in order to prevent an environmental disaster.

So how come his one year anniversary program listed series of activities such as health-walk, public lecture, showing of his life documentary, a launch of a foundation in his name as well as holding of Moslem and Christian prayers but did not include any of these very remarkable projects which are of great importance to the country especially now that Ghana seems to have lost touch with sanitation problems.

Public lecture in his honour is good but for how long are we going to continue delivering long lectures and propound big policies at the least opportunity. Let us walk the talk with action because action they say speaks lauder than words.