Sanitation Minister tours municipalities in Accra

The minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah as part of her efforts to get first-hand information on government’s effort to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa is embarking on a three-day tour of various Municipalities within the city.

Starting off at the Accra Waste Management Unit, the minister expressed dissatisfaction at the state of the general sanitation of the facility which had been fraught with filth.

In a bid to defend the untidy environment the Assembly’s Director of waste Management, Mr Solomon Noe indicated that refuse trucks that come to the yard for refuelling and maintenance.

Her next stop was the James Town Slaughter House where she took her time to assess the overall sanitary conditions at the slaughter house. Excluding the public toilet facility in the area which was well maintained, the Sanitation Minister was greeted with scenes that posed health dangers to the meat produced at the slaughter house. The vicinity comprised of exposed animal blood and the burning of car tyres to process meat. She called on the veterinary doctor and the other authorities in charge of the place to up their game in ensuring proper sanitary practices on the site or risk its closure.

The team then moved to the Agbogbloshie market where the Minister bemoaned the situation of choked gutters around the market. She asked the head of the market women to organise an exercise over the weekend to desilt the gutters, cautioning them of a follow up. The Mayor of Accra however intervened and said he was going to mobilise resources to ensure the distilling of the gutters tomorrow. She therefore entreated the market women to ensure they keep the environment in which they ply their trade is always clean.

The minister ended the day’s round of tour with a visit to other municipalities within the city including the Korley klottey Municipal Assembly and the Ayawoso West Municipal Assembly where she said property owners should look beyond their walls and ensure they take care of sanitation issues around their immediate environment including weeding and desilting of gutters around their properties.

Madam Dapaah is expected to conclude her tour tomorrow by visiting other selected Municipalities within the city.