Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly to recruit fresh butchers for Abattoir
Mr Rex Asanga, Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive has announced that the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly is in the process of recruiting new butchers to operate at the new Abattoir at Yorogo, a suburb of Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
The move has become necessary because of constant refusal by the butchers working at the old dilapidated slaughter house at the central market in the Bolgatanga Township to relocate to the new ultramodern abattoir.
Mr Asanga, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency(GNA), said an advert had been placed in the public domain for interested persons to apply for consideration and approval.
Due to unhygienic conditions in which animals were slaughtered and meat sold to the public, the Municipal Assembly in 2017 with funding from the World Bank, constructed a new abattoir with a biodigester at Yorogo at the cost of GH¢1.2 million.
Apart from the equipment necessary for the slaughtering animals and processing of the meat, the facility also has a pavilion and washrooms attached for staff and workers.
The new facility was built to relocate butchers within the Bolgatanga Municipality and its environs for the slaughter of their animals and to process meat before taking it to the market for sale.
However, since its commissioning in 2018, the facility has not been operational due to several unsuccessful engagements between the Assembly and the butchers.
The situation compelled the Assembly to lock up the old slaughter house at the central market, and this angered the butchers who have since then laid down their tools.
Mr Asanga noted that the sit down strike by the butchers was adversely affecting operations of food businesses across the Municipality and its environs, especially those operating catering services.
The MCE said the Assembly had numerous engagements with the Butchers who had promised to move to the new facility but failed severally on different dates given them.
“They had agreed to move to the new facility on December 15, 2021, but they asked for an extension to January 1, 2022, which we granted them but they still did not go, and even when we called them for a meeting on January 12, they refused to attend so we set January 18, 2022, for them and we are not going back on words,” he added.
The MCE said the butchers want the Assembly to move the cattle market to the location of the new facility before they would move which was difficult for the Assembly to do at the moment.
“They had agreed to move to the new facility two weeks before the cattle sellers will also move there but they made a turn around and want the cattle sellers to move to the place at the same time with them.
Mr Inusah Samari, Chairman, Bolgatanga Butchers Association told GNA that the place was too far from the animals’ market and relocating to the new facility would not help them to break even as they would spend more on transportation.
Source: GNA