The brain behind what has become the most commonly used handwashing equipment in this era, the Veronica buckets, has disclosed how bureaucracy and needless shenanigans frustrated her efforts to secure patency rights for her invention.

More than 30 years down the line, Mrs Veronica Bekoe, a biological inventor says although she has earned little to nothing from the production of the Veronica buckets, her consolation lies in the fact that it is serving humanity exceptionally well.

Explaining her plight as she took her turn on GhanaWeb’s People and Places, she intimated that she gave up the idea of patenting the product as she could not keep up with the various ups and downs and referrals from the Registrar General’s department.

“I tried with Registrar-General, but you know the bureaucracy, and when I was actively working, I didn’t have time to be running around. So, the go and come, go and come, discouraged me and I stopped,” Mrs Bekoe stated

She added that she is unable to produce more buckets as she has run out of raw materials, hence her inability to make additional sales.

Originally produced at a small laboratory in Accra to assist her colleague biologists to wash their hands, the Veronica buckets have become a household name not only in Ghana but across the continent and several parts of the world.



Many have accused her of claiming credit for something which already was in existence and attaching her name to it. What they do not know, is that the inventor of the Veronica Buckets; Mrs. Veronica Bekoe, birthed the idea as far back as the ’90s.

The plan came into fruition after she got the endorsement from her supervisor at the time.

Today, she is glad her little solution to a problem is going beyond the laboratory and helping save lives, especially with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.