Committee to probe 890m Cedis "Fumigation Bill"

The financial Sub-Committee of the Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA), has mandated a three-man committee to investigate an alleged whopping ?890 million spent by the assembly for fumigation at the final refuse dump at Kpone.

The contract was awarded following approval by the Chief Executive, Mr. Samuel Evans Ashong Narh, Alhaji Hussein (Coordinating Director) and Emmanuel Aryee (Finance Officer).

Chronicle learnt that as much as ?90 million was paid every two weeks to the contractor who fumigated the site nine times.

However, a worker at the site who confided in the Chronicle, stated emphatically that "as far as I am concerned I saw the contractor fumigating the site only twice."

Mr. Lambert Faabeloun, Municipal Environmental Officer, told Chronicle that the decommissioning of the site started in 1999 and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wrote a number of letters to the assembly.

Chronicle further learnt that in 2001, EPA wrote an official letter to the assembly because conditions at the site were insanitary and that smoke had engulfed the whole area which was creating daily accidents on the road.

According to Faabeloun, a factory and workshop were located directly opposite the site.

He remarked that "management practices at the site were unacceptable from the standpoint of EPA's landfill management."

He told Chronicle that the site was too close and was also encroaching on the land of the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) which had been zoned for food manufacturing.

Chronicle further investigations can reveal that Mr. Leslie Benjamin, TMA's Waste Management Engineer currently on leave, failed to spread and compact the area to quench the fire and cover it with soil so that grass and trees can be planted to improve the environment.