Incentivising The Public To Report Sanitation Offenders Is Laudable

On April 8, 2026 Dr Frank Amoakohene, Ashante Region Minister, drew national attention to a troubling sanitation practice in Kumasi, where residents were exploiting heavy rains to dump waste around the Otumfuo Roundabout, so that the flood waters would carry them away.

Instead, the waste accumulated, forcing the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to intervene and clean the area. His remarks highlighted a deeper concern, the persistent lack of civic responsibility among some citizens, despite ongoing efforts by authorities to maintain urban cleanliness.

To address this, Dr Amoakohene proposed an unconventional enforcement strategy of incentivising the public to report offenders by offering 50% of the fines imposed on individuals caught dumping refuse indiscriminately. This approach reframes sanitation as a shared responsibility between government and citizens.

A day later, the former member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, endorsed the initiative, describing it as innovative and pragmatic. He drew parallels with similar whistleblower reward systems in parts of the United States, where such measures have successfully deterred environmental violations.

Mr. Mubarak further argued that this model could transform sanitation management nationwide and even suggested that President John Dramani Mahama should consider elevating the initiative to a national level.

The incident at the Otumfuo Roundabout, where individuals deliberately dumped refuse during rainfall in hopes it would be washed away, underscores a deeply ingrained culture of environmental neglect and it is equally a failure of civic responsibility.

What Dr Frank Amoakohene has done is not merely to condemn this behavior, but to challenge it with an innovative and potentially transformative solution. His proposal to reward citizens with 50% of fines collected from sanitation offenders represents a shift from passive enforcement to active civic participation.

It is a model that recognises a critical limitation of traditional governance: authorities alone cannot monitor every street, drain, or neighborhood. By turning ordinary citizens into stakeholders in enforcement, the policy creates a decentralised accountability system that could significantly increase compliance.

The endorsement by Ras Mubarak is both timely and instructive. His comparison to similar initiatives in jurisdictions like California and Milwaukee in the United States of America highlights an important lesson, behavioral change often requires both deterrence and incentive.

Ghana already operates whistleblower frameworks in other sectors; adapting this concept to sanitation is both logical and necessary.

However, while the proposal is promising, its success will depend on careful implementation. Safeguards must be introduced to prevent abuse, including false reporting, personal vendettas, or breaches of privacy.

Clear guidelines, verification mechanisms, and public education will be essential to ensure the policy does not create unintended social tensions. Beyond enforcement, the broader issue remains one of mindset. Sanitation is not solely a government obligation, it is a shared social contract.

The persistent sight of plastic-clogged drains and refuse-littered streets reflects a disconnect between public expectations and individual behavior. Without a shift in attitudes, even the most innovative policies will yield only temporary results.

The call for national scaling, including suggestions that President John Dramani Mahama consider leveraging Dr Amoakohene’s approach at a higher level, should not be dismissed lightly. Ghana’s sanitation challenges require bold, unconventional thinking, and this initiative offers a blueprint worth examining.

Ultimately, the lesson from Kumasi is clear: clean cities are not built by assemblies alone. They are built by citizens who understand that environmental responsibility begins with individual action.

If embraced and properly managed, this policy could mark the beginning of a new era in urban governance one where accountability is shared, and cleanliness becomes a collective priority rather than a government burden.

 

 

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