BUTCHERS OPERATING in the heart of the Bolgatanga Municipality in the Upper East Region have finally moved to their newly assigned area at Yorogo, a suburb of the municipality.
The butchers had refused to move to Yorogo where the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly had constructed and equipped an ultramodern abattoir at the cost of GHC1.2 million.
For over two years, the butchers kept resisting efforts at getting them to relocate, claiming that the new abattoir was far from the heart of town and therefore will affect their operation.
Meanwhile, the stench around where they operated from (i.e. the old abattoir in the heart of town), was so offensive and created discomfort for people who went close to the place.
After the confirmation of Rex Asanga as the Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, in 2021, the assembly started a new round of discussion with the butchers, who continued to resist and flouted two deadlines they had agreed on with the assembly. They also embarked on a sit-down strike, causing meat shortage in the municipality.
From February 1, 2022, the assembly decided to ignore the butchers and started a process to recruit new butchers to operate the new abattoir at Yorogo and just when the assembly was close to securing the services of new butchers, the old butchers hurriedly moved to Yorogo to occupy the new abattoir.
DAILY GUIDE visited the new abattoir on Wednesday, February 9, 2022 and saw the butchers happily working in their in a new environment. The new place looks clean and the environment smells good.
The Chief Butcher of the Butchers Association in the Bolgatanga Municipality, Tindanzor Kolduug, in an interview, said they are now comfortable at the new abattoir, adding that they regret delaying their movement to the place.
According to him, their earlier actions and fears were based on information that turned out to be non-factual about the new place, hence their decision to move and occupy the abattoir before they lost their place to new butchers the assembly wanted to recruit.
“This place is comfortable; walahi this place is far better than the other place. Here, the work goes faster than the other place and so we are able to finish our work early and by 7:00 am or so, our meat is ready for the market.”
FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Yorogo