Residents living in the communities of Weija, Oblogo and surrounding areas in the Ga South Municipality of Accra risk contracting diseases, including cholera, if the heaps of refuse in the communities are not cleared as soon as possible.
Besides the loads of refuse which are an unsightly spectacle, the atmosphere in the communities is diffused with a stench emanating from a dump site situated close to the Weija Presbyterian Primary and Junior High School, making it difficult for people to breathe easily.
Under the prevailing conditions, life in the communities has become uncomfortable for the residents.
Problem compounded
What makes the situation quite dangerous is that only a few metres away from the dump site is a group of women engaged in the sale of cooked food to the public.
Some of the women sell cooked rice and fried plantain with beans to schoolchildren, a delicacy for them, no doubt, as quite a number of them were busily buying the food during their vacation classes.
A number of gutters in many of the places visited were filled to the brim with a mixture of dirty water and waste materials.
From the existing conditions, there is every indication that the communities are at the mercy of mosquitoes and other forms of harmful insects.
Residents lament
Some residents who spoke to the Daily Graphic were aggrieved due to the unsanitary conditions in the communities, and called for an urgent intervention from the Ga South Municipal Assembly and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA).
A concerned resident, Ms Eugenia Duko, said residents and traders, in a careless manner, sometimes dumped refuse in the middle of the road.
According to her, the stench emanating from the huge refuse dump close to the school was a health hazard in the town.
“I moved into town three years ago and for me the poor sanitation conditions in Weija is not new. It appears the AMA does not care about us,” she said.
When asked why she was selling a few metres away from the dumpsite, Auntie Dora, another resident, said many of the children who patronised her food came by that route, adding that “if I move away from this place, they may lose touch with me”.
“The AMA and the Ga South Municipal Assembly must collaborate and solve this problem, else people will begin to die here,” she added.
She said having the dump site close to people’s dwellings was not good enough; however, the people could do nothing about it because there was none other dump site close by.
Source: Graphic Online