Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has declared its intention to arrest and prosecute individuals and companies found dumping waste at unapproved places in Accra.
At a press conference in Accra last Tuesday, the Chief Executive Officer of AMA, Mr. Mohammed Adjei Sowah, was alarmed at the attitude of both companies and individuals who he criticized for indiscriminately dumping of waste materials onto streets, gutters and drains."
Fuming with anger, the mayor of Accra, warned that individuals and companies caught dumping garbage onto unapproved sites would be prosecuted or pay large fines to serve as deterrent to others.
He disclosed that the house-to-house sanitary inspections will soon be intensified.
"Daily sanitary inspection in which environmental health inspectors conduct house-to-house inspections of potential waste generation centers such as households, institutions, markets, medical facilities, and so forth to check whether the laws on health any hygiene are adhered to will be reinvigorated..." he said.
Mr Adjei Sowah further cautioned: "Offenders will be prosecuted uncompromisingly or face huge fines. it is important to note that offenders can even be jailed."
According to him, the AMA would get tough on tackling sanitation in the capital in order to realize President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's dream of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.
Mr. Adjei Sowah disclosed that AMA had unstructured the cleaning of the capital to 11 private companies.
This, he added, was being undertaken in accordance with the President's bid to accordance with the president's bid to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa.
He said the people who generate waste would pay for the waste generated as the 11 companies had been distributed across 15 zones to ensure that sanitation is tackled.
The mayor of Accra noted that as part of its new scheme, there would be an intensified distribution of garbage bins in the nation's capital.
"This will tremendously ensure convenient and reliable household waste collection and dignified waste disposal. We are, therefore, directing all residents to register with the service providers assigned in their respective areas," the statement added.
Additionally, Mr. Adjei Sowah said his outfit would commission a new transfer station at Achimota-owned by a private sanitation company-to provide an additional site for tracks and tricycles to dump waste, explaining that the move would "reduce the distance for carting waste to the final disposal site."
To this end, he cautioned that "operating waste dumping sites without permit is illegal and there would be effective enforcement."
"Dumping of garbage or large items onto unapproved site or places will be met with prosecutions or large fines, the mayor emphasized, adding that dedicated WatsApp hotline numbers 020246444 and 020264411 were operational for reporting and sending photographic evidence of fly-tipping to AMA.
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