Open drain turned defaecation, rubbish site
The goats run in circles munching through the refuse that lined up the huge open drain. Not far away, a thin smoke rises from a local fish-smoking oven, popularly known as the chorkor smoker, loaded with fish and sited close to an old toilet. The owner veils the oven with corrugated roofing sheets but it cannot escape the filth.
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A few footsteps nearby, a group of pupils are going through the letters of the alphabets with the help of a teacher whose thin cane points to the alphabets. School has just begun in the open shed — Hope for Life Centre — a basic school.
A heavy stench hung in the air — one that is difficult to block from the mind even hours after it leaves the precincts of the drain.
This is the daily routine in a part of Accra New Town where a filthy storm drain that runs through the community is giving the residents cause to fear malaria and cholera.
In spite of the numerous National Sanitation Days over the last 10 months, not much has changed as the refuse rather seems to fill the gutter in the absence of a container.
The community was not spared the worst cholera epidemic that hit the country in which over 200 people died and more than 10,000 were hospitalised.
The residents are, therefore, appealing to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to consider, as a matter of urgency, the construction of the big storm drain, which has become the receptacle for refuse, comprising plastic bags, empty water sachets and human waste.
A fish-smoking oven and a 'pito' joint sited close to the edge of the drain seem to be struggling for space with the rubbish thrown around.
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Even though part of the drain which joins a bigger storm drain at Nima has been constructed, the bigger portion, which runs from Kotobabi, has been left unconstructed, leaving room for some recalcitrant members of the community to throw their rubbish around, while others have turned it into their place of convenience.
Do you sleep in the gutter?
An opinion leader, Mr Gibriela Agadi, accused members of the community, especially, those living close to the drain, of being responsible for the filth that had engulfed the place.
“When you confront them, they ask you if you sleep in the gutter," he said.
He pleaded with the AMA to help construct the drain, as it was the only means of stopping the menace. "If the gutter is constructed, I am sure most of us here will be vigilant to stop people from filling it with filth," he noted.
Mr Agadi said in the past, young people in the community organised clean-up exercises to clear the drain of silt but they stopped because their efforts were always in vain within days.
A resident, Joan Osei, blamed the situation on the non-availability of refuse bins in the community, which forced people to sneak under the cover of darkness to dump their refuse in the drains.
"I do not think people will intentionally throw rubbish into the gutter if there is a rubbish container here," she noted.
Another resident, Abena Asiedu, said her house had been invaded by mosquitoes, cockroaches, rodents and some unknown bugs from the drain, a situation which could give rise to malaria and cholera.
As the demand for accommodation increases, some landlords in the community have converted their toilets into rooms for habitation.
For most houses in the area, not even the directive from the AMA has compelled the landlords to construct toilets in their homes.
AMA directive ignored
In spite of the directive from the AMA that all households within the Accra Metropolis should have toilet facilities by the end of February 2012, the reverse is the situation.
With the heat from the AMA subsiding, some of the residents have abandoned their toilet construction, leading to residents either defaecating in the drains or throwing plastic bags filled with human excreta into the drains.
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There were at least 500 households using the pan latrines when the Supreme Court in July 2008 ordered the AMA to put a stop to the use of the facility as a place of convenience due to its environmental and health implications.
Supreme Court directive yet to be implemented
The directive from the Supreme Court followed a writ by a coalition of human rights organisations led by an Accra-based legal practitioner, Nana Adjei Ampofo, in February, 2008.
The court also instructed the city authorities to construct 1,500 water closets and KVIPs within the period, as well as arrange subsidies for those who would convert their pan facilities into water closets or KVIPs. That is yet to be done.
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Meanwhile a number of residents the Daily Graphic spoke to said they did not know about a Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development subsidy to reduce the cost of providing household toilet facilities in a bid to reduce pressure on neighbourhood and public toilets.
Some of the residents also accused the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, of reneging on his promise to get the drain constructed.
“The MP was in the area and promised all of us that the drain will be constructed but more than five years later, not even one block has been laid,” an angry resident, Joel Awuku, said.
“It is not fair the way we are treated. This is not the first time we have been told the drain will be constructed.”
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Irresponsible landlords?
A former Assembly Member for the area, Hajia Damata Sulemana, however, pointed accusing fingers at some of the landlords in the area for neglecting their responsibility of providing basic amenities for their tenants and the AMA for not compelling landlords to have basic amenities in their houses.
Some of the residents alleged that over the last five years, the contract for the construction of the drain had been awarded to four different contractors but they could not give names.
Assembly member’s promise
When contacted, the newly elected assembly member for the area, Mr Prince Nuhu Ahmed, told the Daily Graphic that his immediate task would be to use clean-up exercises to clear the drain of filth.
“I will also do my best to get a container so the people can dump their refuse in to reduce the rate of disposing of refuse into the drains.’’
He said he would also push hard to ensure that each household had its own toilet while following up on contracts allegedly awarded in the past.
Writer’s email: seth.bokpe@graphic.com.gh