Human waste disposal site poses health hazards to Korle-Gonno residents
Mr Wilson Adjorlolo, Head Teacher of the Korle-Gonno Roman Catholic Basic School, on Thursday expressed frustration about the pungent odour emanating from the human waste disposal site within the city.
Mr Adjorlolo, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency, said the strong scent from the human waste disposal site over the years had affected academic work at the basic school – interfering with teaching and learning.
“The scent is so bad that school pupils sometimes would hold their noses for a long time; that automatically interrupts with academic work…
“Teachers also either refused to be transferred to the school or are reluctant to be at post…We are working under difficult situation at the peril of our life.
“Most students and teachers especially continue to suffer from the stench that continues to psychologically “haunt” them as they struggle to stay in their classrooms and learn,” Mr Adjorlolo said.
The disposal site nicknamed “Lavender Hill,” continues to be a major problem to most residents living in and around Korle-Gonno in the Ablekuma South Constituency. Residents are not spared from houseflies that constantly storm their houses.
Mr Adjorlolo explained that the situation had been in existence since the 1930s.
Speaking later at the launch of a documentary on: “Collection and Disposal of Liquid Waste (raw faecal matter) in the Accra Metropolis” by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), Mr Adjorlolo disclosed that schools in the area had planned to embark on a weeklong demonstration because of the issue.
He said the demonstration would aim to draw attention of the authorities to “stop the disposal of faecal waste into the sea at the Lavender Hill site, without proper treatment.
Mr. Ibrahim Musa, member of CONIWAS, said the documentary was developed in partnership with Ghana Water and Sanitation Journalist Network (GWJN) out of a survey carried out on the Lavender Hill, Achimota School’s breakdown sewage and the multimillion dollar liquid waste treatment plant at Legon.
He said the forum was also to build on the capacity of media personnel on sanitation to do more reportage as part of measures to intensify awareness on changing attitudes of citizens to keep hygienic environment.
Mrs. Cindy Badoe, Deputy Director, Head of Built Environment, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), attributed open defecation to ignorance on the part of the populace.
She noted the situation was complicating the efforts of the EPA and its stakeholders in curbing the menace.
She called for enforcement of policies that mandate all households to construct toilet facilities.
All governmental agencies responsible for providing public toilets, she added, must also work without compromising.
Mr Wisdom Aditsey, officer in charge of public health information programme, Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), said even though there were laws on sanitation AMA was finding it difficult to implement them due to lack of adequate sanitation staff coupled with the size of Accra.
Source: GNA