DAILY GRAPHIC, Tuesday, March 27, 2012, Pg.28. Okaikoi North sub metro in perspective:Residents calls for improved sanitation at forum

Story: Mary Ankrah

LIVING in insanitary conditions is now an entrenched aspect of the daily lives of residents of Wouyema, a community close to Abeka in the Okaikoi sub metropolis.

For many years, improved sanitation has been a major challenge for the residents as vehicles belonging to waste management companies contracted to collect waste in the area are unable to operate due to inaccessibility.

This situation, according to some of the residents, has led to the littering of the streets and disposal of garbage in gutters and drains.

At a forum held in the sub-metro in Accra recently, the residents called on the directorate of the sub-metro to deal with the problem of waste disposal as a matter of urgency to forestall any health epidemic when the rains start.

A resident, Efua Amankwa, complained that when it rained, the refuse in the drains settled in the gutter right in front of her shop and she had to bear the stench that  emanated from the gutter too.  

The Presiding Judge of the Sanitation and Motor court at Abeka, His Lordship Emmanuel Antwi-Barima, indicated that the bye-laws of the AMA stipulated that every household should have sanitary facilities.

He explained that the Supreme Court of Ghana mandated the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to stop the use of pan latrines following a suit against the assembly for employing people to carry pan latrines in the capital. 

To enforce this mandate, Judge Antwi-Barima said the AMA established the Sanitation and Motor Court, which has the jurisdiction under the criminal code 1960, to try cases such as indiscriminate dumping of waste, causing noise pollution, obstruction of public way, slaughtering cows/animals elsewhere other than the approved places, selling unwholesome food or allowing cattle and other animals to go astray.

Similarly, the motor courts under road traffic Act 2004 act 683 tries cases on dangerous driving, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, among other cases, he said.

Judge Antwi-Barima said even though the AMA bye-laws demanded that landlords should make provision for household toilet facilities, the operations of the court in the  had assisted the authorities in the sub-metro to identify households without toilet facilities.

So far, he said, about 9,668 households without toilet facilities have been identified in the Okaikoi sub-metro.

According to the Director for the Okaikoi Sub-metro, Ms Abena Kwasiwa Kyei, the court recently identified a house in the sub-metro that accommodates 200 tenants but has no single toilet facility.

She disclosed that the tenants defecated in a drainage system behind the house, for which reason the landlord had refused to provide a toilet facility in the house.

To address the inadequate toilet facilities in the sub-metro, she said, the AMA was constructing public places of convenience to enhance sanitation while  encouraging landlords to construct household toilet facilities to reduce the pressure on the public toilets.

She said one public toilet facility had been completed at Alogoshie, while two others were under construction at Fadama and Anumle.

To deal with the situation of waste disposal, Ms Kyei said the sub-metro authorities claimed to have arranged with Yafuru Waste Company to engage in the house-to-house collection of refuse in the area.

According to her, the waste company has been implored to acquire the appropriate equipments that would enable it carry out its work effectively and efficiently in the area.

 Ms Kyei said the enormity of sanitary and road safety cases in the sub-metro called for the setting up of the Sanitation and Motor court for their prompt resolution.

She stated that the establishment of the court had significantly impacted on sanitation is some areas of the sub-metro.

On education, Ms Kyei stated that 37 temporal structures had been constructed to abolish the shift system within the sub-metro to enable the schools in the sub metro to have the full teaching and learning time to improve on the academic performance of the pupils.

She observed that due to large enrolment in public basic schools, classroom furniture was inadequate for the number of children in a class.

Ms Kyei added that under the initiative of the AMA, the sub-metro was also constructing a Millennium city school— a 12-unit classroom block which would include science and computer laboratories and library at Achimota Basic School at Anumle and Fadama cluster of schools while a sod had been cut to commence another one at Apenkwa.

She, however, complained about the use of most of the school parks for football activities by residents, especially the Tesano and Fadama cluster of schools, which she emphasised often affected classroom activities. 

On roads, Ms Kyei said that the AMA had rehabilitated about nine roads across the sub-metro at an estimate cost of GH¢ 474,855.

These include the Dzable street, Nii Boi Town road and others while the Akweteman and Korkor streets were still under construction.

In addition, about 1.5 kilometres drains and gutters are under construction at a cost GH¢ 328,581 at Nyamekye Obuobi Gonno and Abeka market, among other places.

 The AMA, she said, had further installed about 45 street lights in the six electoral areas in the sub-metro.
However, Ms Kyei complained that the chaotic situation on the N 1 highway was a major challenge facing the sub-metro.

Petty traders, she said, displayed their items along the pavements meant for pedestrians and even on the street, hindering proper accessibility of the pavement by pedestrians.

 “The indiscipline among petty traders and hawkers on the N 1 road, specifically the Abeka-Lapaz stretch of the road, is causing congestion at the area and despite several attempts to drive them away, the traders still come back with the excuse that they don’t have anywhere to sell.”

Ms Kyei acknowledged that notwithstanding the difficulties in the sub-metro, the AMA had supported and funded all the projects executed in the sub-metro.

“The AMA has also provided the sub-metro with equipment and motor bikes to make sanitation supervision easy while security personnel have been deployed to the place,” she added.