Accra: Sahara Park residents ordered to move
Residents of Sahara Park, a slum area in Adabraka, a suburb of Accra, have begun evacuating their premises, following an announcement by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to demolish their structures by the weekend.
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The demolition is to enable the AMA and Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company, to desilt open drains and collect the debris that were left behind after the June 3, 2015 floods.
As one of the areas that was badly hit by the flood, some residents lost their properties worth thousands of Ghana cedis.
The area
During a tour by the Daily Graphic in the community yesterday, it was observed that some of the wooden structures that were built along the open drains had broken down.
Some compound houses had muddy floors and the drains were also filled with waste, mostly comprising of furniture, broken wood, bottles, used clothing, some cooking utensils, among others.
Residents, however, with support from workers of the two institutions, cleaned their surroundings, while others packed out from their premises.
Clearing the city of filth
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Zoomlion District Operations Co-ordinator of Osu Klottey, Mr Mohammed Abdul Rahim, said the clean-up formed part of the one-month campaign initiated by the company to clear the city of filth.
He said with the support of the members of the community, the company intended to clean and fumigate the community within three days to prevent the possible outbreak of diseases.
Mr Rahim said other places that were being cleaned and fumigated were the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Odorna, Castle area, Osu, Oxford Street, Graphic Road and its environs.
He, however, expressed sadness that while the clean-up exercise was ongoing, residents were still dumping waste into the open drains, creating more work.
He, therefore, called on the AMA to deepen the public sensitisation on the indiscriminate disposal of waste into the open drains.
The Chief Executive Officer of the AMA, Dr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, said the assembly was working tirelessly to collect the refuse that had piled up in the capital.
He said the assembly was also helping the waste management companies to fumigate the flood-prone areas to prevent the outbreak of diseases such as cholera.
More time
In an interview, a resident of Sahara Park, Nii Lamptey, said though the clean-up exercise was a laudable idea, residents could have been given more time to prepare and evacuate from the area.
"The information is too sudden. At least they should have given us prior notice to properly pack our belongings," he said.
Dirt again
Meanwhile, some parts of Adabraka that were cleaned by workers of the Graphic Communications Group Limited and Zoomlion Ghana Limited some five days ago are beginning to gather filth.
Some of the choked drains that were cleaned had gathered sand which is blocking the flow of water. The open drains have also been filled with waste such that it is difficult for one to say the area had been cleaned.