MARKETING GHANA: BETWEEN OBAMA, FACEBOOK DEBATES, STRAY COWS AND TOILET WARS!! (Final Part)

And So What?
So how did all this end, and where does it lead us to or leave us? Is this just some intellectual babble? Did we just talk and end the matter there? I was resolved not to let all of the gems gathered in the discussion go to waste. So I made use of a facility on Facebook by which one can introduce people into ‘friendships.’ I was privileged to be Facebook ‘friends’ with a government deputy minister with direct responsibility for branding Ghana. I therefore introduced these ‘friends’ to each other and to this Deputy Minister, in the hope that some of the things we shared can move from the ‘talk’ stage to the ‘walk’ stage. Then we would have made some progress.

But as I was thinking about progress, then my beloved Cape Coast hit the headlines, this time on account of a political struggle over the control of public toilets. Let us be clear on one thing. Public toilets are very important in Ghana. Indeed, in many places, they constitute significant land marks. And just before anyone thinks that I am being merely cynical or flippant, I will want to refer to at least five local government regulations, which expressly mention certain public toilets as boundaries of some Town/Area Council Zones: LI 1421 (West Akyem), LI 1427 (Yilo Krobo), LI 1453 (West Dagomba), LI 1488 (Atebubu) and LI 1614 (Kumasi). Further, revenue from public toilet facilities is so critical to local government authorities that it has been legislated in our statute books. The Local Government Act, Schedule 6, titled “Revenue of Local Government Bodies”, Item 10 (viii), mentions “Toilet Receipts” as one of the statutory sources of revenue.

To my mind, public toilets should not be the first reference point for any citizen of this country who seeks to ‘answer nature’s call.’ But that is the case in many communities in Ghana, simply because in the 21st century, there are homes and workplaces in Ghana that do not have toilet facilities, and so many people have to use public toilet facilities all the time. But Ghana’s Building Regulations demand that every house must have toilet facilities. Under Part XIV of the Regulations, every house must have a water closet, where water is available, or an earth closet or chemical closet, where there is no water. The law also provides detailed specifications for installing and maintaining these in homes. With respect to offices, the Labour Act imposes a burden on all employers to ensure that employees have access to “separate, sufficient and suitable toilet and washing facilities and adequate facilities for the storage, changing, drying and cleansing from contamination of clothing for male and female workers.” The Factories, Offices and Shops Act also require that “adequate and suitable sanitary conveniences conveniently accessible to persons employed shall be provided, maintained and kept clean in every factory, office and shop, and effective provision shall be made for their lighting and ventilation.”

It is therefore illegal to build a home or run a factory, office of shop without toilet facilities. We must enforce these laws. The non-enforcement of these laws means that many people depend on public facilities as the first port of response when ‘nature calls.’ This is what has created a huge business and statutory source of income for local government authorities, who, ironically, are required to enforce the Building Regulations. Local government bodies, as we are learning, farm out the actual running of these facilities to various people, and the contractors are selected on the basis of their political party affiliations. Thus with every change of government we will have crises on our hands when the winning parties’ foot soldiers begin to demand a change in control over such facilities, so that they also can ‘enjoy’ the “toilet receipts.” This is the source of the problem, and we simply have to de-emphasise the importance of public toilet facilities by enforcing the laws.

The public toilet story from Cape Coast is not new or isolated. Each forcible take over or quarrel makes its way into the news. Ashiaman public toilets were taken over with force and threats of violence. I heard one public toilet ‘contractor’ screaming on Peace FM that she had placed an injunction on the ‘tsiafi’. Oh… Ghana! And the Cape Coast version of the story is on the internet (myjoyonline.com) for all to see. A prospective tourist who does a Google search on ‘Cape Coast’ probably seeking to visit the Cape Coast Castle, will see that the most topical issue to arise from the beloved city, since Obama left, is over who controls public toilets. In Accra, cows and goats and sheep still roam a road as major as the Graphic Road on an almost daily basis, competing with vehicles for space. The Obama-by-night road refurbishments are still in place and holding out against the rains. (Hey, did Obama take the rains away with him?) The polished and refurbished hospital and King’s Palace are still there for all to see.

My love for Ghana has not diminished. Obama was a high. The toilet fights are a low. Today, I am somewhere in between highs and lows on this sometimes creaking roller-coaster called Ghana. I am still incurably romantic to believe that I can be part of turning this wheel on which we turn, even if T.S. Eliot will call me “a fool fixed in his folly.”

Maybe Obama left Ghana with the smell of fresh paint in his nostrils, and with our rains. Maybe not. But we still have a nation to build and market, a nation that lives in many centuries at the same time. That is our beloved Ghana. But whilst at it, let’s simply enforce the law – one house, at least one toilet. Cage the cows and goats. That would be a great start. Simple.

Yours in the service of God and Country,
Kojo Anan