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What are health officers up to ?
2005-07-24 07:24:26
By Editor
A Dar es Salaam court recently imposed a penalty of three strokes of the cane on a teen-aged boy who pleaded guilty to washing cars in a prohibited site in the city; an offence said to amount to a public nuisance.
It may be of interest to those not very conversant with the law to learn that the boy, who fits into the ’’under-age’’ category, couldn’t be fined and was caned instead, after having been medically examined and found to be fit enough to absorb the canes, as it were.
We are advocates of good governance, of which observance of the law is one of the main pillars. If law breakers were to be given the leeway to do as they please this would lead to lawlessness and attendant anarchy.
Lawlessness is not an eventuality any sane person or group of people desire. Hence the imperative of sticking to laws and penalizing offenders.
In flushing out potential and real offenders, however, certain fundamental factors must be considered critically, so that application of the law is total and not piece-meal.
It should be all-embracing and not seem to be selective. Equally importantly, authorities and organs tasked to monitor and regulate particular activities, as well as to crack down on offenders, must be consistent and not sporadic ’’fire-extinguishing’’ operatives.
On the issue in question, washing vehicles anywhere and anyhow translates into environmental hostility. It should be curbed. We wonder, though: To what extent are car washers, predominantly young men struggling to survive, a big nuisance and environmental polluters?
We are asking the question because the health officers who are charged with ensuring that car washing is properly regulated, are also tasked to inspect restaurants, cafes, tea rooms, bars, guest houses and other service outlets where the potential for health risks and even death due to unhygienic conditions is high.
But a random tour of those outlets in Dar es Salaam and other urban centres will yield shocking revelations of stinking toilets, filthy kitchens, near-rotten mattresses and other manifestations of a broad ’’hygienic’’ bomb awaiting explosion.
Where are the health officers; what are they doing to ’’detonate’’ the bomb? What would make anyone doubt claims that some palms are greased to facilitate non-observance of health regulations while simultaneously allowing business to continue?
These things cry out for a big re-think.
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