AMA boss visits institutions under Assembly

Accra, May 27, GNA - Dr Alfred Nii Okoe Vanderpuije, Metropolitan Chief Executive of Accra Metropolitan Assembly has condemned the unsanitary conditions in some parts of the city and said if this was not checked immediately they could cause an epidemic or a court action against the AMA by any concerned citizen.

Dr Vanderpuije made this assertion after a visit on Wednesday to some institutions in the Metropolis to acquaint himself with their work and also get to know their challenges and how best to solve them. The institutions visited included Town and Country Planning Department, Metro Works Department, the Cesspit Services and Korle Lagoon Dredging Project.

The rest were the Pedestrians' Shopping Mall, Sodom and Gomorrah, a slum area in Odododiodio constituency, and Slaha Market popularly known as Salaga market.

At the Cesspit Services Association or Lavender Hill, the mayor, who was visibly shocked at the manner in which liquid waste was disposed of at the beach, called on the Association to come up with immediate measures to put a halt to the method.

At Sodom and Gomorrah, he deplored instances whereby five to six people die everyday at the place due to the unsanitary conditions under which they lived and appealed to all those who were putting up block buildings to put a halt to them since that area would not become their permanent abode.

Dr Vanderpuije was also not happy with the conditions under which workers of the Korle Lagoon Dredging Project worked. He condemned instances whereby workers had no gloves, safety boots and safety belts to work with. He appealed to the foreign contractors to do well to put the safety of local people they worked with at heart in order to avoid harm befalling them.

When he visited the Pedestrians' Shopping Mall, he expressed concern about the vacant stalls and low patronage of goods and called on all hawkers outside the mall to move in. At the Town and Country Planning Department, the mayor praised the workers for the good work they were doing and promised them the Assembly's assistance.

The workers called for the recruitment of more people to facilitate work at the Department.

Interacting with the Metro Guards, he urged them to take their work seriously and avoid bribery. The guards called for salary rise and the recruitment of more personnel since Accra was too big for only 90 guards. Interacting with the media, the mayor promised to address all the concerns raised by the institutions he visited and urged them to work for the betterment of the metropolis.