AMA running foul of the law?
Despite court directives to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to stop the discharge of human excreta into the sea at the Lavender Hill in Korle Gonno in Accra, sewage trucks carrying human waste continue to do so.
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The court had given the AMA seven days to shut down the Lavender Hill waste depot, upon a request from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in February 2014. However, when the Daily Graphic visited the Lavender Hill yesterday, the situation had not changed as trucks were still offloading untreated human excreta into the sea.
Besides the nauseating stench emanating from the huge volumes of waste that were being dumped, the colour of the sea, which had turned brown at the tipping area and the faeces on the ground were indicative
of the danger the place posed for anyone who swam close to the area.
Drivers’ response
A truck driver who gave his name as Nii Okine said the drivers had not received any directive stopping them from offloading human excreta into the sea and added that the AMA had not provided an alternative location for them.
“We will relocate if an alternative place is provided for us. For now we have nowhere to go to,” he said.
More than 130 trucks dump untreated waste into the sea at the Lavender Hill daily and the AMA charges each offloading truck GH¢15.
No comment
A caretaker at the Lavender Hill waste depot who wants to remain anonymous refused to comment on the issue and directed the Daily Graphic to the office of the AMA.
Background
The EPA went to court in February 2014 to stop the city authority from allowing for human excreta to be discharged into the sea.
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The court gave the AMA seven days to shut down Lavender Hill, considering the unpleasant smell that emanated from the site as well as health hazards that the facility posed to the public.
The AMA at the time pleaded with the court to give it more time to provide an alternative solution.
The court, presided over by Justice K.A. Ofori Atta, agreed and gave the AMA until the end of last year to stop the practice,but four months on, the situation has not changed.
The area was nicknamed: ‘Lavender Hill’ by unhappy residents because of the foul smell that emanated from the site due to the huge volumes of human excreta that were dumped there.