Market leaders pledge support for clean markets campaign
Leaders of market women in the major markets in the Accra Metropolis have pledged their support for the government’s campaign to rid the city and markets of filth.
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They have therefore called on the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), as a matter of urgency, to reintroduce the use of sanitary inspectors to check insanitary practices. They also called on the government to expand the markets and help fight fires in the event of fire outbreaks.
The leaders of the market women, led by the President of the Market Women Association, Madam Mercy Nii Djan, pledged their support for the clean campaign when they met with the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Julius Debrah, and the AMA Chief Executive, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije, at the Flagstaff House in Accra yesterday.
The meeting was used by the government functionaries to solicit the support of the market leaders in the sustenance of the sanitation campaign in the markets.
Last Friday, the Vice-President inspected some refuse dumps in the metropolis to apprise himself with the situation after he had issued a 10-day ultimatum to the AMA and other sanitation agencies to clear the huge piles of garbage in the various markets.
The action followed a directive by President John Dramani Mahama to the Local Government Ministry and the city authorities to clear all refuse from the metropolis immediately.
Concerns
The market leaders claimed that some residents used the markets as rubbish disposal points and this created the impression that market women generated so much filth in the markets.
They also expressed concern about the activities of female porters (kayayei) who they claimed contributed to the insanitary conditions at the markets because some of them slept there and generated waste.
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They, therefore, asked the AMA to provide litter bins to residents to discourage people from using the markets as dumpsites.
Touching on market fires, the market leaders said the dire situation had arisen because the markets lacked easy access routes to enable fire engines to move easily through them in the event of fire outbreaks.
Vice-President
Mr Amissah-Arthur asked the market leaders to play their part by ensuring that the filth that engulfed the markets became a thing of the past.
Mr Debrah called on them to form market cooperatives in order to receive the needed support.
Mr Vanderpuije, for his part, said the assembly had launched a sanitation standards implementation committee to enable it manage waste disposal in the metropolis efficiently.
Writer’s email: Sebastian.syme@graphic.com.gh