Dear national neighbour, as you ought to know, there is a mosquito problem in our country. Some neighbours are exercising diligence to rid their homes and businesses of mosquito breeding grounds. But many neighbours are, however, not exercising much diligence. In fact, many are dismissive of the problem.
Public sector service building occupants are among this group. In light of lack of fluidity to treat with the mosquito problem, the country's mosquito problem is growing. Thus, I beseech you good neighbour to get up and do your part in a collective effort to make our national community mosquito free.
Please do the following.
Scan your yard and house, your business premises and compound, for open containers and pockets of space holding stagnant water. Empty and dump or overturn the containers and fill up water pockets that cannot be overturned. Check your guttering to see that it's not clogged and that it's angled to assist full rainwater runoff. Check that all potable water tanks and containers are tightly sealed and that excess water is not collecting to create mosquito breeding grounds.
If your outdoor drains are holding stagnant water, unclog your drains. Report to the local government office if your public street drain holds stagnant water. These simple steps can decimate the national mosquito problem. This work is necessary on a national scale, since mosquitoes are known to have a working travel range of one to seven miles. And mosquitoes are commonly brought into communities in private and public vehicles when drivers are not diligent.
There's a proliferation of mosquitoes because this highly educated nation of people are trained to wait for government to send state employed workers to deal with problems they face rather than cooperate and deal with difficulties for themselves. What would it take for people who live on the same street on every populated street in the country to come together, and teamwork to clear their streets and their respective properties of mosquito breeding grounds? In one week they could clear drains, clear roof guttering, search out and discard receptacles holding stagnant water and place mosquito dunks in stagnant waterways not used to supply potable water and too large to empty of water. If such a campaign is kept up for a month the nation's mosquito population will significantly decrease and with it the risk of contracting diseases. Is there a social will or political will to decimate mosquitoes and contraction of so-called mosquito diseases? Or is the nation too comfortable to care to take action?
If you wait for government's understaffed vector control unit to eradicate mosquitoes national wide, you'll be waiting in vain.
B Joseph, via email