KMA members threaten boycott again

Some members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) have threatened to boycott the assembly's meeting scheduled for today to elect a presiding member.

The action is to enable them to impress upon Mr Maxwell Kofi Jumah, Metropolitan Chief Executive to rescind his decision to privatise the management of public toilets in the metropolis.

The members claim that the chief executive's decision was not put before the assembly, so it is a unilateral decision and also breaches the Legislative Instrument of the assembly (L.I. 1614), which states that the functions of the management of public toilets should be vested in the sub- metros.

A source at the Waste Management Department (WMD) of the assembly which disclosed this to Graphic explained that the privatisation of the management of the facilities is to ensure greater efficiency and maintenance of the facilities and not to deny anybody a source of livelihood or cripple the sub-metros.

The source said residents have been complaining bitterly about the unhygienic nature of the facilities and lack of disposal of the waste of late. Besides, revenues from the facility have gone down even though user rates of the facility have gone up drastically over the years.

The source explained that the sub-metros took over the management of the public toilets about two years ago and said before the takeover, the gross monthly revenue from almost 300 public toilets under the control of the WMD was about ?50 million.

He said before the management of the facilities was re-taken by the assembly in August this year, the average monthly inflow from the sub-metros for the period spanning January to July was ?13.2 million.

He said since the takeover in August, revenues from the toilets has hit ?23.7 million, which represents a ?10.5 million jump over what was generated in the previous months on the average.

The source said the fall in the average monthly inflow of ?50 million to the recent figure of ?13 million is unacceptable, especially since the user rates of these toilets have gone up drastically over the years.

He said besides this, the fact that some of the highly patronised toilets could gross over ?100,000 per day three years ago indicates that just one of such toilets could gross a monthly revenue of ?3 million as against the present situation where all the toilets in a sub-metro generate the same amount in one month.

The source said that people who win the contract to manage the privatised facilities will be made to sign a performance contract with the assembly to do routine maintenance, pay electricity and water bills, dispose of the waste and ensure that the property is properly managed. He said the bid is open to the public and that assembly members can also apply since they qualify.