As the year 2020 draws to a close, it’s time for stock-taking. If you were asked to name what has been the most discussed topic during the year, what would it be? No doubt, it could hardly be any other than the Wuhan Virus? Experts have told us how important our hygiene is in combating the pandemic. However, if it all boiled down to hygiene, perhaps, Africa would be considered the best in the world contrary to the general belief that the continent is full of filth. Whatever be the case, most of us would surely acknowledge the high importance of environmental cleanliness in our mental and physical health as well as our general well-being. It’s surely why some people would choose to stylize the phrase ‘environmental health’ as ‘environ’Mental health’.
So, we found it necessary to compile the cleanest cities on the continent of Africa during the COVID-19 year. These cities have been selected mainly based on several sources as well as on public opinion. So, if your city failed to make it this time, may be you’d strive to make it this coming year. After all, is cleanliness not next to godliness? One of our reasons for publishing this is actually to encourage healthy competition among African cities since cleanliness has a lot to do with the wholesale attitude of citizens than anything else.
According to the narrator of a Displore video, one of the sources on which this documentary is based “for a city to be considered clean, it has to solve the problems that can lead to unsanitary living conditions and ultimately poor health of its citizens. A clean city is one that gives its citizens a sense of pride and makes a positive contribution to their overall health”. Now, that certainly sounds like a serious issue; doesn’t it? Here are the cities that made it to the top 10 out of hundreds others:
10. Port Louis, Mauritius
Port Louis is the capital and largest city of Mauritius, an island country off the south-east coast of Africa. It is also the country’s political, economic, and cultural center. Managed mainly by the Public Health Department of Port Louis under the aegis of the Municipal City Council, the city is impressively tidy with numerous state-of-the-art monuments and buildings. According to air purity stats, the city is said to compete only with Scandinavian cities.
9. Accra, Ghana
Accra is one of the cities that line up on the West African Atlantic coast and the only one among them that made this list. Although, like most other West African cities, Accra was once notorious for accumulating waste, this is fast becoming a thing of the past. With the tireless work of the Accra Environmental Committee, the city was one of the cleanest in Africa in 2020. Credible sources are also projecting that the city could actually top the list soon due to a special World Bank intervention to this effect.
8. Nairobi, Kenya
The largest as well as the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi is also known as “the Green City in the Sun” due to its enlivening mix of natural features like open fields such as the Uhuru National Park, forests like the Kaura Forest as well as several highlands. Traffic congestion used to be a big issue in Nairobi. But it has been largely eased due to a new prevalent habit among the citizens of walking or cycling as opposed to driving. This has also helped to reduce carbon emission to a great extent.
7. Tunis, Tunisia
Apart from occupying the 8th slot on this list, the capital city of Tunisia is also the second cleanest city in North Africa. The city’s environmental hygiene hinges on its reliance on renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy, hydroelectricity, and biofuels. For instance, it is very common to find electric-powered cars on the streets of the city. Thus, carbon emission is highly reduced.
6. Port Elizabeth, South Africa
We had hoped that if any South African city would make this list then it would have to be Johannesbourg. But, most South Africans disagree with this, giving the position to Port Elizabeth instead. Some even claim that Pretoria also deserves the position more than Joburg.
5. Gaborone, Botswana
Gaborone is the capital city of the southern African country of Botswana, one of the world’s top exporters of diamond. Unlike some African countries where a fight over abundant natural resources has been the order of the day, messing up a lot of things, Botswana is known as one of the most peaceful countries on the continent. This has a positive boomerang on the country’s capital city that is not only naturally endowed but also well managed.
4. Algiers, Algeria
Due to the beauty and cleanliness of Algiers, the city has been nicknamed as ‘the Paris of Africa’. Apart from the Government embarking on a massive development of exquisite parks in the city, it is also implementing elaborate programs to combat air pollution and erosion.
3. Cape Town, South Africa
Apart from being one of the cleanest cities in Africa, South Africa’s legislative capital city Cape Town is also a famous global tourist destination, competing with some of the world’s best cities in terms of beauty, order, and development. However, on this list, it has been able to make the third slot when it comes to cleanliness.
2. Windhoek, Namibia
Namibia is one of the youngest nations in Africa, having obtained full independence from South Africa only in 1990. The fact that Namibia’s capital city Windhoek made the second slot on this list is a clear indication that the country is making good use of its youthful vigor which, unfortunately, is not the case with Africa’s youngest nation, South Sudan.
1. Kigali, Rwanda
Sources after sources and all kinds of opinions we sourced kept placing Kigali ahead of its peers as the city setting the standard for urban hygiene in Africa. Cleaning services go on around the clock and the city dwellers have been oriented in such a way that throwing even a tiny stick on the street is viewed with great consternation. Some people even insist that Kigali may be the cleanest city in the world too. That’s really remarkable for a landlocked country that emerged from the ruins of a long-drawn civil war only in the 1990s.
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