Mr Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi, the Mayor of Kumasi, has vowed to crackdown on sanitation offenders and has called on shop and business owners in the Central Business District (CBD) of Kumasi to act as “watchmen” to monitor and stop recalcitrant persons who indiscriminately litter the environment with refuse.
According to him, the indiscriminate disposal of waste chokes gutters and causes flooding whenever it rains in the Kumasi metropolis. Speaking during the second Day of National Sanitation exercise last Saturday, which was supervised by Dr. Frank Amoakohene, the Ashanti Regional Minister and the Metro Waste Management Director, Mr. Boadi said the Assembly focused on drains that pose challenges in the CBD and are responsible for flooding.
He said they have worked from the Children’s Hospital, Otumfuo Roundabout, Pampaso and PZ streets. He added that the Assembly also worked at some intersections in front of the building housing Hello FM, and that significant work was done at Alabar.
The Mayor stressed that no matter the level of effort the Assembly puts into maintaining drains in the CBD, the situation deteriorates quickly due to human activities.
He stressed that No matter the level of effort the Assembly makes in the Central Business District, it does not last for two years before it deteriorates. That is why every time it rains, the metropolis experiences a lot of flooding and destruction.
He noted that the state spends a lot of money to fix destroyed drainage infrastructure in major commercial areas that is why a lot of the finances of the state are spent on that. He disclosed that the Assembly had desilted all the choked gutters to ensure free flow of water when it rains.
According to him, some of the drains had not been attended to for 15 years, and that the Assembly would strategize to go back and work on other areas to allow water to flow freely into the Subin drain whenever it rains.
The Mayor blamed the sanitation problems largely on residents, traders, and road users in the area.
He reiterated that the flooding being experiencing is caused by the residents especially those selling along these drains.
He urged traders and customers to use designated ten thousand waste bins around instead of littering.
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