Ever since the introduction of Operation Clean the Nation otherwise known as Set Settal, we have always been in support of the initiative, except the way and manner it is being conducted.
We begin with considering the positive effects such as the health aspects of the initiative.
However, a new trend is also being seen, especially within the
Here, mainly women and KMC tractors are seen cleaning and, of course, blocking the traffic on the main Serrekunda to Tabokoto highway, at night.
While we commend the good work they are doing, we want to observe that it would have been better if the night cleaning exercise was well-coordinated to ensure the free flow of traffic.
We do not know whether the women involved are volunteers or paid by the KMC.
Whatever the case, it is good that a proper mechanism is put in place to make their work easy, while not obstructing the traffic.
Blocking the traffic, which happens nightly, restricts the free movement of people, goods and services, which has negative effects on people and the national economy.
In our view, the monthly set-settal should have nothing to do with the daily business of people, as both can be done simultaneously.
All we need to do is to make sure we organise things properly!
Another concern which we have about the set settal is that, even days after the monthly event, one still sees heaps of garbage along the national highway.
Perhaps the men employed by the KMC, as cleansing service workers, should learn from the way the women night workers do their assignment.
The women cleaners clear the refuse from the highway, loading it in tractors, at the same time as they are sweeping the highway clean, nightly.
This is definitely an effective system of refuse disposal.
Thus we call for a similar effective system to be in place, so that after the drudgery of gathering the refuse at specific points, it would be collected and quickly disposed of.
This would prevent harm to the people, especially those living around the temporary refuse dumps, which are always an eye-sore on the highway, after every monthly Set Settal exercise.
