By Deborah Essuman
The La Municipal Assembly’s Marketing center, commonly known as the Madina Market, is renowned for its bustling atmosphere and marketing activities. Vendors and customers connect for business opportunities and to buy and sell their wares, particularly on busy Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Unfortunately, piles of garbage and indiscriminate dumping of waste in the market and the Madina vicinity have become the order of the day, making one scared of the future of the market and its surroundings. Garbage is sometimes left for days without collection, and in these rainy times, the least said about the situation, the better.
In fact, there are concerns that staff of Zoomlion, who regularly collect the garbage, are shirking their responsibilities because of months of salaries owed them. GBC’s correspondent, Deborah Essuman, visited Madina to assess the situation.
GBC News spoke to some traders and customers on the sanitation situation, especially on the garbage issue.
A member of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Committee of the La Nkwatanang Municipal Assembly, who spoke on condition of anonymity, denied claims of garbage being left at the market for days. He said the Assembly, in partnership with the Zoomlion Company Limited, ensures that garbage is collected always. He said garbage seen on the median is filth made during the day by vendors at the marketplace. He also revealed that the delay in salary payments of the Zoomlion workers for the past eight months has led to a lukewarm attitude towards their job. He noted that another contributory factor is the non-availability of fuel for the waste trucks. He said at times, they set up night patrols to apprehend vendors who improperly dump refuse at the market. He suggested that those selling on the roadside should be relocated to ensure that the median and the market are kept clean. He maintained that the Authorities are hesitant to take legal action for fear of being politicised or losing their positions. The vendors complained bitterly about how the garbage is mostly packed for weeks and the stench is driving customers away.
Dr. Priscilla Animaa Opoku, the La-Nkwatang Madina Municipal Health Director, emphasised the urgent need for action regarding the sanitation crisis. She called for thorough education for vendors to halt such inappropriate behaviour, highlighting the importance of maintaining cleanliness in the market for the benefit of all. The situation at Madina Market reflects a larger challenge of waste management in urban areas, requiring cooperation from both the authorities and the community to find effective solutions.
