As the country struggles to find a lasting solution to the sanitation problems facing major regional capitals, the Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Mr Kojo Bonsu, appears to be close to finding a panacea to the menace.
An initiative dubbed, �The Sanitation Rapid Response Scheme� and codenamed �Orangi� was launched last Monday to first deal with the filth that had engulfed the city, as well as provide jobs for at least 150 unemployed people.
The female-dominated employees have been put in groups of five and assigned to various lorry terminals and vantage points in the metropolis to pick litter, especially plastics.
A specially designed collection bag and a pointed picking stick have been distributed to members of the task force, who have already started working. And to facilitate their work, the assembly has purchased two huge trucks, 150 uniforms and 200 collection sacks for them.
The new scheme is to complement other existing schemes all geared towards making Kumasi satisfactorily clean.
Although the scheme is to tackle waste in general in the metropolis, the main focus, according to the KMA boss, was to deal with plastic waste which was expected to be sold to recycling companies as a raw material to generate income for the assembly.
The move has already been hailed by the people of Kumasi, especially the youth, amid lots of fun fare and brass band music.
The assembly has also set in motion other means of waste management, notable among them is the full cost recovery scheme which is based on incremental cost recovery and declining subsidy.
The scheme, which started in 2008, stops the assembly from paying any subsidy to any private waste collection contractors for services they render to domestic and commercial properties.
As part of the aggressive policy of tackling the filth in the capital, provision has further been made under the Urban Development Grant to procure more communal containers to check the heaping of refuse at the dumpsite.
The 100-acre site at Oti, which is currently undergoing expansion to contain the city�s waste for the next 25 years, is being positioned for a massive take-off with the introduction of the new scheme.
More workers are on board to intensify regular spraying of the site to avoid an outbreak of diseases and to safeguard the health of the workers.
The chief executive led a team of sanitation experts and journalists last Monday to tour the site to ensure that the place was ready to contain the expected increase in refuse collection.
As the assembly plans ahead for the next 25 years, Mr Bonsu is considering a number of proposals from both local and foreign firms to access the refuse and turn it into bio diesel.
Aside the innovation, the KMA�s �night sweeping scheme� has also been on course since last year and has led to a drastic reduction in filth.
The sanitation scheme is only one of many projects that the chief executive has initiated as he marks his one year in office. The projects include the greening of the city with the �Me and my tree competition,� which is aimed at planting 2,000 trees in the capital to give meaning to Kumasi as the Garden City.
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