Accra, Feb. 12, GNA - Six commercial entities operating at Tudu and Makola in Accra, have been fined GH¢240 each for refusing to register wit= h Meskworld Company, accredited with Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA). The companies are His Majesty Phones, Life Gate Forex Bureau, M and R Enterprise, Adjoa Enterprise, Judsigns Trading Enterprise and Madam Alice Yirenkyi.

A bench warrant was issued for the arrest of the proprietors of Best Express Enterprise and Game Palace who did not appear before the Accra Metropolitan Sanitation Court.

The court presided over by Ms Janet Anima Marfo, ordered the accused companies to register with the sanitation contractor by Thursday, February 17. Prosecuting, Ms Linda Kumbonu of the AMA Public Health Department, tol= d the court that in an effort to keep Accra clean, the AMA directed households, organisations and other businesses to register with its accredited waste management contractors. She said some recalcitrant companies refused to comply with the directives despite enough education for them to do so. Ms Kumbonu said some companies rather engaged the services of head pan collectors, popularly known as 93Kaya Bola" who collected the refuse and= dump them into open drains, which caused flooding whenever it rained. She told the court that the activities of the Kaya Bola boys also caused diseases like typhoid and malaria.

The AMA Public Health Taskforce visited the area on January 28, and found that the accused companies had not registered with refuse contractors and they were summoned for non-compliance with the order to register with the accredited waste contractors in the area. When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) contacted the Director of AMA Public Health Department, Dr Simpson Anim Boating, he said more than 50 stores had been summoned and would appear in court to answer charges of refusing to register with the sanitation contractors.