EDITORIAL: ‘‘Keep Juba Clean’’ is our mantra, authorities need to uphold it
On Wednesday, the Juba City Council found itself on the receiving end after being blamed by the minister of environment and forestry, Josephine Napwon, for not doing enough to keep the city clean.
Napwon requested the council to publicly admit that they cannot handle waste management and allow other bodies, like her ministry, to take up the responsibility.
Napwon was categorical when she said that it was the mandate of the city council to maintain tidiness in the city. However, the authorities concerned seemed to have abdicated this duty, judging from the ugly heads of garbage heaps on the streets.
She said, “The officers charged with this noble responsibility must pull up their socks.”
The statement from the ministry of environment was like a wake-up call for the city council. It also came at a time when the country was preparing to join the rest of the world in celebrating World Environment Day.
The outlook of our environment tells us clearly that we are unworthy to join in the celebration of World Environment Day because our city is not in proper shape.
This can be likened to a man who is going for a celebration knowing he hasn’t taken a bath for days, but he expects to sit comfortably among his colleagues. However, we do acknowledge that the Juba City Council has been working hard to make the Juba clean and safe but these efforts have lately been minimised.
For instance, the street along with Custom markets sometimes gets filled with garbage. One wonders if the authorities have spotted the heap of garbage dumped on the road. This garbage can stay on the road for close to two months before being collected. That is why sometimes the ministry of the environment is forced to intervene in the cleaning of the city.
It is the responsibility of the city council administration to ensure that the city is clean, not the ministry of the environment. The latter is supposed to focus on bigger projects like conservation of our forests, land degradation, and flood management, among other activities.
The other weight of responsibility rests on the shoulders of the citizens. People must be mindful of the environment and should strive to take good care of the environment and personal hygiene.
The unnecessary littering of the streets and poor disposal of waste is not a sign of being responsible citizens. We must be responsible for our environment because it is everyone’s responsibility.
