Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has defended policy analyst Kofi Bentil’s comments on communal labour, arguing that no country has achieved lasting cleanliness through periodic clean-up exercises.
In a social media post, Manasseh challenged critics of Bentil’s position.
“Those attacking Kofi Bentil should name a country in the world that is clean as a result of communal labour. It’s unsustainable,” he wrote.
His comments follow a statement by Bentil’s remarks during Ghana’s ongoing national clean-up exercise.
Bentil said communal cleaning may be necessary in places facing sanitation challenges, but it should not be treated as a permanent solution.
“It’s a good thing in a dysfunctional society to once a while ask citizens to clean the city, that is not a virtue however,” he wrote.
He added that cities that remain clean do so because of effective sanitation systems rather than periodic communal labour.
“There’s no clean city in the world where citizens clean. All cities where citizens clean are never clean,” Bentil stated.
