Garbage at the Takoradi market circle
Some residents in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis have blamed the increasing number of cholera related deaths and illness in the area partly on the failure of city authorities to provide waste containers at the Takoradi market circle.
As a result, the Market Circle, which is the central business center of the metropolis, has become a garbage dumping ground.
A visit to the area near the main market which is under construction reveals indiscriminate disposal of waste and filth is the order of the day.
Because there is no container available, the market women and passers-by have no other alternative than to dispose off their waste on the ground.
Some of the traders asserted that the city authorities have not responded to their numerous appeals to provide bins at vantage points to minimise littering in the area.
They believe that the insanitary condition at the central business area of Takoradi has contributed to the alarming cholera outbreak in the city.
This is in addition to attitudes like open defecation at beaches, consumption of food prepared under unhygienic conditions and the failure to keep personal hygiene.
The Public Relations Officer of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, John Laste, explained that the assembly is not able to clear the rubbish at the Takoradi market circle on time because of the breakdown of the assembly’s backhoe machine.
Meanwhile, the Western Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has begun administering oral cholera vaccine to residents within the region.
The exercise was necessitated by the increasing number of recorded cholera cases and its related deaths in the region.
The number of deaths in the region has increased from the initial 8 to 15 and the cases recorded currently stand at 800.
The exercise will end on Thursday, December 19, 2024.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi