KMA engages residents of Atasamanso

Residents of Atamanso in the Nhyiaeso sub-metro of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly have appealed to the assembly to expand the drainage at the Atasamanso market to help deal with flooding, which occurs whenever it rains.

They said the size of the gutters was so small that they could hardly contain the water volume, which spilt over, flooding the market. The traders said they had lost their wares to floods and pleaded with the assembly to come to their aid.

Community engagement

The residents made the appeal last Thursday when the KMA held a community engagement with them on developments in the sub-metro and also to learn about their challenges.

Adding his voice to the plea of the residents, the Gyasehene of Atasamanso, Nana Ofori Nyarko, said the traders at the market had been complaining about the floods, which was affecting their goods and making them incur debts and called on the assembly to engage the contractor to find a lasting solution to the problem.

Aside from that, he said even though Atasamanso was a first-class residential area, they were not getting services befitting that status. He said the area was without street lights and called on the assembly to fix the lights to improve on security in the area.

Nana Nyarko commended the Chief Executive of the assembly, Samuel Pyne, and the Municipal Security Council for sending a police patrol team to the area. He said the presence of the patrol team had led to the reduction of petty crimes, such as snatching of phones and mugging, and believed that if the street lights were installed, it would greatly improve on security in the area.

Addressing the community, Mr Pyne rued the attitude of residents of Kumasi towards sanitation. He said although the assembly had gone to great lengths to improve on sanitation in the metropolis by providing waste containers and placing them at vantage points, residents still dumped their refuse into the drains or those who decided to send theirs to the waste bins would rather put them by the bins instead of dumping them inside the bins.

He said many residents claimed that people had been employed to clean the city so they must have work to do. Mr Pyne said that attitude was causing the assembly to spend close to 70 per cent of its revenues on sanitation.

He thus called on the residents to change their attitude towards sanitation and the environment and help the assembly reduce its expenditure on sanitation. He also urged the residents to pay their tolls and other financial obligations to the assembly to help it provide the needed services and development to the people.

Projects

He said since becoming of the assembly, he had seen to it that all the projects, particularly the school projects started by his predecessor were completed and had furnished all the schools with desks to ensure smooth teaching and learning.

Aside from that, he said communities within the sub-metro such as Atasamanso, Santasi, Daban Apraman, South Suntreso, Sokoban and Fankyenebra, had also benefited from modern toilet facilities, markets, courthouses and boreholes.

He said the assembly would continue to do its best to make life bearable for the residents and asked the residents to also support the assembly.