When will we stop ‘Dutty up Jamaica’?
The ‘Nuh dutty up Jamaica’ campaign was launched in February, 2015 with the aim of keeping the island clean and protecting our coastline.
The beauty of our beloved Jamaica has been marred by its residents’ nastiness and the Government’s inability to keep it clean despite various campaigns.
It is said that ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’, and it is amazing that in a country reputed to have the most churches per square mile it is so unkempt.
We would be appalled by the response from church cleaners as to the cleanliness of its members.
The distasteful behaviour of littering stems from pedestrians throwing garbage on our roads, to factories dumping effluent in the sea. Pedestrians tend to be oblivious to the result of their actions when they eat and throw plastic bags, bottles or banana peels on the roadway or sidewalks.
This shows blatant disregard for fellow citizens, especially the disabled among us. Our nastiness also contributes to outbreaks of deadly infectious diseases such as dengue, CHIKV, and leptospirosis.
Is there a law against littering, and, if so, whose responsibility is it to carry out the enforcement? One may see it as just one piece of paper or one bottle, but when it rains all the ones come together to cause millions of dollars in damages.
Walking around St William Grant Park in the capital city is like touring a urinal in a time of drought. At the intersection of West Queen’s Street and West Parade, there is a returning pool of ‘sewage water’ on the pedestrian crossing for several weeks now, with no one attending to it. The famous ‘Gully’ in Cassava Piece, St Andrew, can be easily mistaken for Riverton dump as the residents use it to dispose of their garbage.
Kingston is not to be outdone, as the other parishes can also identify with unsanitary behaviour perpetuated by its residents, business owners and factory operators. The sad reality is that the children are following the bad habit of the adults.
We can make the ‘nuh dutty up Jamaica’ campaign a success by disposing of our garbage in the right places; let’s join hands and hearts and vow to play our part in cleaning up Jamaica.
There is an epidemic of littering among Jamaicans which I find appalling and incomprehensible. Many of the verges along our road-ways – commercial and residential – our city,town, village centres and gullies have become literal dumping grounds for all sorts of garbage. This has had and will continue to have implications not only for general aesthetics of the country but even more importantly for its health in respect of the spread of infectious and other diseases.This propensity for littering by some Jamaicans has been observed and commented on not only by our civic-minded and health and environmentally-concerned fellow citizens but by visitors to the island as well. It is a well-known fact that despite all its physical, cultural and other attributes many travel travel agents/agencies have stated that they cannot sell the country with the enthusiasm that they would like because of the poor and sanitation and waste management issues In fact they often compare Jamaica to places like the Bahamas, Barbados and other of our Caribbean islands and Jamaica always comes up very short in this area. Persons might also recall the observation of a former United States ambassador and the comments made about some Jamaicans and their littering habits There is also the case of the cruise ship captain and the comparison he made between the natural beauty of a particular location in Jamaica and a popular resort area in a South American country. In his opinion and the members of his crew Jamaica had by far the more beautiful location but mainly because of the level of littering,dirt and decay found in large sections of the local resort, the South American location attracted many more ships and visitors.
In view of the above, which also reflects the concerns of many Jamaicans,the necessity for proper waste management in Jamaica is undoubted and needs to be addressed as matter of urgency to ensure the health, comfort and well-being not only of the citizens but visitors to the country as well
No dam civic pride!!!
they need to get serious and start charge$5000 when get caught ,then they will stop.