LOUSY TENANCY AND MAINTENANCE IMPLICATIONS

“Ano a wϽde bϽ bosea no, ɛnnyɛ ɛno ara na wϽde tua”. The Akan proverb which literary translates, one does not settle a debt with the same mouth with which one borrowed, aptly captures human tendency to renege on promises, especially, when they are no longer affected by crisis. If I were to reword the proverb to suit current tenancy situation in Ghana, I would caution home owners: “ahopere a wϽde hwehwɛ dan no, ɛnye ɛno ara na wϽde tena efie mu”, literary meaning residents do not maintain house with the same readiness with which they seek tenancy, therefore pick your tenants cautiously! In other words, the old adage, “charity begins at home”, is simply not applicable to most domestic spaces in the country.

Ghanaians have developed a deplorable attitude to cleanliness; many simply refuse to practice healthy lifestyles. Both literates and illiterates are guilty of creating and living in dirty surroundings. Even the basic acts of sweeping, dusting and scrubbing their own homes have become chores so much that many simply neglect such healthy activities under the pretext of busy schedules. The reality, however, is that preventive maintenance is a lost concept on bad tenants; they simply cannot be bothered. Consequently, when a lousy tenant vacates an abode, the owner must renovate at a huge cost before the premise can be rented out again. Unfortunately, many Ghanaian tenants have condescended to such appalling behaviour leaving most houses unsightly. Whereas in some communities houses gain value with time, in Ghana, they lose value over time due to poor or lack of maintenance.

Lousy tenancy might account for the ridiculous rent advance payment demanded by some home owners, so they do not lose out when they have to renovate regularly. Conversely, some tenants may fail to practice preventive maintenance due to high rent charges. Whatever the reason, lousy tenants should realize that living in filth compromises their health. Additionally, cleanliness is a habit that must be cultivated. Considering that the average Ghanaian is usually a tenant—in a private or government house--for a considerable period before s/he becomes a home owner, if a tenant refuses to practice preventive maintenance, by the time s/he becomes a home owner, s/he  and the children might be too old to cultivate that habit. That explains the apparent inability of Ghanaians to practice preventive home maintenance. “If you fail to do it unto others, you would not be able to do it unto yourself”. my mother always advised when I was a child.

In effect, lousy tenancy, which results from laziness, is a self-destructive habit; may that knowledge galvanize all Ghanaian into action. Laziness could only yield filth and poverty. Counter that with enthusiasm for work and proper time management, and the diligent terminates sluggishness and undignified living conditions! Practising preventive maintenance in domestic and public spaces could only yield a win-win situation for individuals, community and nation. May we all be responsible citizens, change our attitude and clean up our waste!

LOUSY HOME OWNERS: “KEEPING UP APPEARANCES”!

Beautified front yards unsightly, hazardous backyards! That aptly describes about ninety nine and half percent (99.5%) of the properly developed residences in Ghana. I am always baffled to see a person manage to pull resources to acquire land, build a house on it but stops at providing the necessary cleaning facilities that can uphold healthy living conditions and render the structure a home. You pass by a seemingly beautiful house but find liquid waste has collected at the back or the water runs behind neighbours’ backyard, defacing property, polluting the environment and compromising residents’ health. Beauty disappears! One of the hazards of this country is walking behind houses (mfikyire); they are always muddy, smelly and bushy because owners probably are unconscious of the fact that backyard needs to be catered for just as much as front yards. But the situation gets worse.

Some house owners--young and old, lettered and unlettered, male and female—fail to provide places of convenience, creating opportunity for free range defecation, which pollutes the air, and again, compromises residents’ health. Offending owners design every available space within their buildings as living rooms, to the exclusion of washrooms and other living conveniences, forcing tenants to use public places or surrounding lands as places of convenience. Currently, “six million [Ghanaians] practice open defecation because they have no access to toilet facilities” (Six Million, Daily Graphic, April, 30, p.18). The offenders, representing “twenty percent” of the Ghanaian population, apparently do not know the “health implications” of their actions. Can anyone feign ignorance about the impropriety of failure to provide healthy facilities for a house or open defecation--otherwise would offenders usually hide and ease themselves? Whereas such situations might have existed in 510 BC, it is simply unacceptable in the twenty first century AD.

The sad situation--and danger--is that an appreciable number of Ghanaians continue to replicate such unhealthy building patterns. Yet the Assemblies, Town and Country Panning, the Lands Commission, Traditional Heads all watch unconcerned. But most appallingly, people readily rent such structures. Lousy house owners are contemptible but the monitoring agencies that get paid for allowing Ghanaians to be treated so lowly should have been denied all remuneration aeons ago. And tenants who put themselves in such undignified situations deserve to be whacked unendingly!