Hazardous liquid waste fills Kpone graveyard

Continuous free-flowing hazardous waste from the Kpone landfill site has created gullies and filled some tombs at the Kpone cemetery.

The cemetery used to have a green cover, but most of the trees have been felled for firewood and the grass grazed on by cattle, thus leaving a large portion of the cemetery bare to be eroded, exposing some tombs in the process.

The hazardous waste from the landfill site, leachate, has created channels in the eroded soil, thereby running through the cemetery, Kokompe, Haana and into choked and narrow drains in the Laaloi Electoral Area at Kpone.

The daily heavy flow of leachate into the cemetery, according to information The Finder gathered from workers at the landfill site, is due to the porous nature of the liners that are now unable to help prevent the leaking of the liquid waste.

The workers claimed they used to have a tanker that collected the leachate for disposal, but since the vehicle broke down about two months ago, they have no alternative but to see the liquid waste from the landfill leak to the cemetery and eventually into the opened tombs and people’s homes.

When contacted on the matter, the assemblyman for the area, Joshua Nii-Akpeng Tettey, said he has repeatedly complained of the health hazards the leachate pose to his electorate and the entire people of Kpone, but nobody seems to care.

“I am happy you have gone to see the problem at the cemetery for yourself and you are a witness. I have complained and complained to the assembly but, you know, we are waiting for some strange disease to strike before a belated action is taken to remedy the disaster,” Mr Tettey said.

He hinted of mobilising the Ga youth to lead a massive demonstration against the management of the landfill site and the Kpone-Katamanso District Assembly (KKDA) if no immediate solution was found to stop the leaking leachate from the landfill site in a week.

He said the assembly and managers of the landfill site have to be concerned with the health hazards residents are being exposed to aside their interest in the collection of revenues.