Rearing of cattle in Accra illegal, AMA declares

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is about to embark on an exercise to rid all houses in the metropolis of livestock mainly cattle and swine, TV3 News has gathered.

The exercise will go to the extent of prosecuting owners of these livestock. Speaking on TV3’s Midday Live on Thursday, October 24, 2013, Dr Simpson Boateng, an Officer of the Public Health Department of the Assembly, said: “The AMA by-law frowns on the rearing of cattle and swine in Accra and therefore it is illegal to have these animals in Accra.”

He said rearers are privy to the by-laws “but they are deliberately disobeying the law and therefore we have taken a decision.”

Dr Boateng said most of the animals are reared in the Zongo communities. Sixty per cent of houses in Zongo have cattle in them, he stated.

He indicated that AMA is going to intensify the regulation because the common excuse given by the owners was that the livestock were brought for Eid-ul Adha.