Cholera outbreak not due to poor solid waste disposal - Accra Mayor

The Accra Mayor, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, on Monday attributed the outbreak of Cholera in the Metropolis to poor liquid waste handling and insanitary conditions under which food is prepared for public consumption and not poor solid waste disposal.

Accra has recorded 826 cases of cholera with 17 confirmed deaths as compared to 3,000 cases and 24 deaths recorded within the same period last year due to preventive measures put in place; but the Accra Mayor says a lot more needs to be done.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on the state of sanitation in the Metropolis, Mr Vanderpuije bemoaned the practice of food selling along drains and the poor conditions under which food was prepared and noted that, clean and hygienic surroundings were the responsibility of all.

“Watch what you eat and where it is prepared, who you buy water from is also very crucial”.

He said hawkers would continuously be ejected from the streets because they had been identified as sources of transmitting bacteria and viruses to unsuspecting clients, adding, “Most hawkers hardly wash their hands after visiting places of convenience and sell contaminated food and water to their clients”.

Mr Vanderpuije said, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly would leave no stone unturned to nib the problem in the bud.

He said “Lavender Hill”, an euphemism for a smelly part of Accra, where liquid waste and raw human faeces are poured into the sea, would be eliminated by June this year, and announced that a contract had been awarded to Slamson Ghana Limited to supervise liquid waste disposal in the Metropolis.

Mr Vanderpuije said, equipment and all other machines needed for the installation of digesters for the project had been ordered to put an end to the traditional way of disposal of liquid waste.

Mr Fredrick Sunesson, Managing Director of the company said the technology to be used will separate liquid waste from solid waste.

The liquid waste would be treated for irrigational purposes while the solid waste turned into fertilizer.

Dr John B. K. Yabani, Metropolitan Director of Health Services, cautioned the public to be cautious of what they eat and drink at funerals explaining that a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae which causes cholera could stay in a house fly for 14 days.*