PA Environment Desk Report
Initially it was just an isolated problem confined to the Tema-Sakumono Beach road, and the La Beach area but as the Public Agenda discovered this week, it is beginning to spin out of control. On Wednesday, the Paper counted as many as 17 separate heaps of household waste deposited with careless abandon along the Tema-bound lane of the Accra ? Tema Motorway, between the Accra Abattoir and the Ashiaman ? Lashibi under-pass.
This latest development confirms Public Agenda’s fear, expressed in its Friday, May 24 edition, that if the Tema city authorities did not take immediate steps to stem this creeping indiscriminate dumping of waste by operators of tricycle-mounted waste carriages, popularly known as ‘Zoom Bola’, the situation will get out of hand.
Shortly after the publication of May 24, the Tema Metropolitan Assembly moved in to clear the unsightly scene that had reared its head along the Tema ? Sakumono beach drive. The Assembly’s intervention however fell short of tracking down the perpetrators and prosecuting them to serve as deterrent.
In a matter of days, fresh piles of domestic waste re-appeared at the same location, making nonsense of the Assembly’s earlier intervention, and demonstrating an unyielding resolve of these recalcitrant elements to using the place as a refuse dump.
Under normal circumstances one would have applauded the initiative of these young folks who, through their ingenuity have found an escape from the shackles of unemployment, and are helping to keep our neighbourhoods clean by offering sanitation services in residential areas and market places.
Public Agenda has gathered that these young entrepreneurs take loans, and in some instances enter into hire-purchase agreements with Chinese companies based here in Accra and other cities, to acquire the tricycles carriages, the most popular brand among them being the ‘Motor King,’ and join the business of disposing domestic and market waste for a fee.
Call it a model of PPP in waste management and you won’t be far from right. But the problem with this brand of private sector partnership in the delivery of what undoubtedly is a vital social service is that, it is unregulated. The operators are not licensed; they are not trained in how to undertake their activities safely; and they work under no supervision.
As Public Agenda reporters countered the heaps of waste that have been dumped along the Tema-bound lane of the Motorway, as many as four ‘Zoom Bola’ carts, including the one captured on our front-page, drove by with full loads. Of course, one will not expect them to tip their loads just anywhere during the day, as they could be accosted by passer-bys and motorists.
Some farmers who ply their trade along the Motorway told our reporters that they suspect the refuse are tipped on the road sides at dawn, when there are almost no vehicular movements on the road.
When Public Agenda quizzed the TMA last month on what steps they were taking to deal with the menace, the Coordinating Director said he was not sure whether the Tema ? Sakumono beach area was under the jurisdiction of the TMA or LEKMA. He however gave the assurance that he was going to establish that fact, and ensure that steps are taken to clamp down on the perpetrators.
The problem, evidently, is bigger than initially conceived, and will now require not just the Assemblies to address It certainly will require inter-agency collaboration among the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), Ghana Police Patrol Unit, National Security operatives and citizens. While there is no reason to doubt the commitment of the MMDAs to keep our environment clean and healthy, we will urge some urgency in the adoption of strategies to bring these bad practices to an end.
