Dear Editor,

The ‘Nuh dutty up Jamaica’ campaign was launched in February of this year 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.

Hezekan Bolton

h_e_z_e@hotmail.com