Young professionals help clean up Accra

Known as the Buz Stop Boys, a group of mostly young professionals and businessmen is driving a new wave of civic responsibility in Ghana, picking up brooms and shovels to clear the eyesores of trash in the cities. cities and towns across the country.

Their initiative has won the admiration of local celebrities and politicians – even attracting the attention of some British teenagers who flew to the capital Accra to take part in the activity. cleaning action.

“Our goal is not just to clean the streets but also to change mindsets,” Heneba Kwadwo Sarfo, leader of Buz Stop Boys, told the BBC.

“If we can make people understand that keeping the environment clean benefits everyone then we will have a cleaner, healthier and prouder Ghana.”

About 12,700 tons of solid waste are generated in Ghana every dayOnly 10% are handled properly.

Fed up with the filth and flooding it causes, the Buz Stop Boys travel around Greater Accra two to four times a week clearing clogged drains and gutters, sidewalks and roads, and cutting overgrown grass .

The number of volunteers will vary, depending on who has free time that day.

A civil engineer, Mr. Sarfo founded the team in July 2023 with just 5 people. He called it Buz Stop Boys because he knew the name would be a big hit with the public.

“Rich and poor people know what a bus stop is,” Mr. Sarfo said.

His small-scale initiative has now grown into a movement, with more than 40 men and women – from midwives to carpenters to military officers – participating.

“Social media is key to attracting more people to join our movement,” Mr. Sarfo said.

“Through our videos, we have been able to change some people’s minds, but there is still a lot of work to be done.”

It also led to a group of UK students visiting Ghana during their summer holidays to help carry out a clean-up operation in Ablekuma, an area in Accra notorious for its waste disposal problems.

Mr. Sarfo sees their visit as an inspiration for more locals to get involved.

“Don’t sit at home and say you don’t care. There’s one important thing, no [the] environment, we are useless, we are meaningless and we cannot survive on this planet,” he said.

Famous musician and human rights activist Sister Derby has supported Buz Stop Boys, praising the activists on her Instagram and X accounts.

She told the BBC that she was moved by their “pure selflessness”, and one day she and her brother joined them in cleaning up a street market in central Accra.

Dancehall star and entrepreneur Shatta Wale also rallied behind the group, helping to raise 30,000 cedis ($1,830, £1,415) in a TikTok livestream.

“These boys are real heroes. They are doing things that most of us are too busy or too proud to do. If we all helped them, imagine how beautiful Accra would be How,” he said.

The donations were supported by politicians.

Former President John Mahama – who is attempting to gain new power by contesting elections scheduled for December under the banner of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) – has donated contributed 50,000 cedis, while Transport Minister Asensu Boakye – who comes from the ruling New Patriotic Party. (NPP) – donated 10,000 cedis.

Welcoming the donations, Mr Sarfo said the money was used to fund their operations – including paying for garbage disposal and buying fuel for their tricycles to transport garbage to the dump. garbage.

Politically non-partisan, the Buz Stop Boys’ sole focus is on realizing their vision of a cleaner Ghana – one street at a time.

“Individuals should take initiatives because waiting for the government has not worked over the decades and the record also shows that in the event of an environmental disaster, we as citizens are the ones who suffer the most.”

“Therefore, it is important that we stand up and help ourselves.”

Mark Wilberforce is a freelance journalist based in London and Accra.