SMOKE EVERYWHERE.

By Nii B. Andrews.

There are fewer things that make me more livid than the smell of burning refuse.

It is a constant feature of our neighborhoods – none excepted, and worst of all the culprits are almost always those we expect to know better.

There is no need to repeat myself here today.

My thoughts on this sordid matter were fully encapsulated in this piece penned over 30 months ago and published here.

But of course, like almost everything else around here, the situation has gotten so much worse…..even with more MPs, over 110 ministers, more churches, prophets, bishops; more “degree” awarding institutions; celebrities etc.

At Agbogbloshie – a suburb of Accra, refuse burning assumes epic proportions; it is on steroids.

There piles of discarded computers and electronic parts, many of which were donated in an effort to close the digital divide are burnt by young men totally oblivious to the grave danger to themselves and the community.

The poliTRIKcians episodically rant at full throttle and rave about it – they even wag their soiled fingers and then proceed to do what they have always done when there is an important task to be accomplished; NOTHING.

Amid the noxious smell and tragic scene at Agbogbloshie, anyone’s heart will be broken both literally and figuratively.

The site is a serious error that is etched on the landscape, the ground water, bones, hearts and lungs….and even the DNA of the nearby population – and possibly later generations.

There is no telling what chromosomal translocations, deletions, inversions, duplications and mutations have been effected on our cosmic helix as a result of this burning toxic ‘bitches brew’ or melange.

A series of photographs from the celebrated photographer – Pieter Hugo, entitled  “Permanent Error,” depicts this awful and disgraceful technological wasteland in Accra.

Hugo took portraits of young people who make their living by burning down the plastics of old wires, disks and monitors to extract the metals inside.

The photographs make you wonder if the BEAUTY FULL ones have been born? And if not, then when and where will they be born?

It is all so tiresome watching the gross ineptitude that has created the chaotic and hazardous environment in which we are supposed to live and function normally.