Dumpsites at the Korle Bu and Mudor Electoral Areas located within the Greater Accra Metropolis have been shut down to help improve sanitation conditions in those areas.
The move, which is part of a massive exercise being undertaken across the country at other illegal dumpsites, is spearheaded by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR).
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the exercise, Assembly Member for Korle Bu Electoral Area, Richard Tagoe, disclosed that for over five years, residents around Korle Bu have been dumping waste illegally at the Korle Bu dumpsite.
Describing the practice as very worrying, Mr Tagoe stressed that it could lead to the outbreak of diseases within the assembly. He therefore assured that after the exercise and the place shutdown, the assembly will provide waste containers at the site to convey wastes to the transfer stations adding that the assembly will equally ensure the regular lifting of the waste containers to avoid spillovers.
Mr. Tagoe also pointed out the need for law enforcers to be engaged in order to prevent unscrupulous residents from dumping waste at the site after being cleared.
“I will also liaise with the police with the aim of stopping further dumping of refuse at this site. And more importantly, I will see to it that recalcitrant residents who continue to dump refuse at this site after the exercise are arrested and made to face the full rigours of the law,” he assured.
The next dumpsite to be evacuated after the Korle Bu exercise was the Mudor Electoral Area where the Assembly Member for Area, Francis Asare, was full of praise for the ministry of sanitation and water resources.
“The Mudor dumpsite has really become a nuisance to the assembly and we are grateful that the government through the ministry of sanitation and water resources has finally come to our aid,” he said.
Mr. Asare gave the assurance that after the completion of the exercise, his office will see to it that people do not use the site as a dumping ground. He therefore appealed to the government to help fix lights at the site. This according to him will help prevent people from using the cover of darkness at the site to dump refuse.
For his part, the Ashiedu Keteke Sub-Metro Chairman, Seth Raymond Tettey, entreated the residents to patronize the services of waste management providers in the management of their waste.
This, he said, would mean the residents pay some small amount of money to the service providers to enable them manage their waste whilst appealing to the service providers to be lifting the refuse regularly. This he stressed said this will help make “Accra a better place for all of us to live in.”
In order to ensure that people desist from dumping refuse at these sites after they had been shutdown, Mr Tettey called on the assemblies to effectively collaborate with the law enforcers to ward off offenders.
Story: Henry George Martinson@radiogoldlive.com
