Agri Local

Refuse Takes Over Yilo Krobo Township; Residents Call for Help.

The residents of Yilo Krobo Municipality are worried over the way and manner in which refuse has taken over the township, and are calling on the authorities to act as fast as they can to prevent the outbreak and spread of communicable diseases such as cholera.

The situation according to the residents has persisted due to the of lack of proper dumping sites in the municipality and also blamed the sanitation inspectors for not delivering in dispensing their duties.

Some of the most affected areas include Klo Agogo, Sra, Okornya, Okpeloweh(Ogomeh), where hills of refuse are found posing health hazards to the people in those areas. Others areas are Somanya Zongo, Somanya Roundabout, Akutunya Market.

Gutters are persistently clogged, despite pressure on government and promises in return. A common complaint from the people was the fact that waste that sit in a pile near gutters often find its way back into them. After a heavy downpour, plastic bottles washed out with the rain return to line the rivers that also serve as a source of drinking water for the people.

In 2012, the World Bank estimated that poor sanitation was costing Ghana’s economy around 420 million Ghana cedis ($290 million) each year, equivalent to 1.6% of its GDP. The study found most of these costs come from the annual premature death of 19,000 Ghanaians, largely due to poor sanitation and hygiene.

According to the residents who spoke to Rite News, things will normalize when the assembly and the traditional council come together to enact bye-laws to curtail the poor sanitation situation in the municipality. ‘’All that we need are bye laws that will deal with people who dump indiscriminately to serve as a deterrent to others. And this can only be done through the effort of both the assembly and the traditional council since they have the power, we believe their effort will yield more fruit ’’ they said

Meanwhile the Municipal Chief Executive of Yilo Krobo Hon Ebenezer Tetteh Kupualor said plans are under way to solve the sanitation problems within his jurisdiction to prevent any bad future occurrences.
He said the municipal is expecting an organic fertilizer plant that will solemnly use waste materials for its production. The Dutch Embassy and International Water Management Institute is set to construct a modern fertilizer factory worth 250,000 Euros for the people of Yilo Krobo in the Eastern Region to improve Agriculture in the Municipality to enhance food security.

By: Austin Ofori Addo/ritefmonline.org/austinofori.addo@gmail.com

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button
Close