A man seen slaughtering an animal in the open
Some aggrieved butchers in Somanya in the Yilo Krobo District of the Eastern Region have expressed worry over the Assembly's failure to construct an abattoir for them abattoir for the slaughtering and processing of livestock.
The butchers believe a new facility would be a convenient place for the butchers in the municipality to slaughter animals and process their meat before taking them to the market for sale.
Their appeal follows the closure of the only slaughterhouse in the municipal by the Veterinary Services department.
The VSD has shut down the Somanya slaughterhouse that supplies beef to thousands of consumers because of unsanitary conditions under which it operated.
The Veterinary Services said that operations at the slaughterhouse located at ‘Social Welfare’ a suburb of Somanya will be suspended indefinitely until insanitary conditions under which it operated are addressed through a corrective plan.
The old Slaughterhouse had remained under lock and key since Friday, August 30, 2019, only opened temporarily on two occasions for activities since the closure.
Though MCE of the area, Ebenezer Tetteh Kupualor have intervened by allowing the butchers to go back to work, the butchers have since been at their wits end as they lamented that the closure of the slaughterhouse aside affecting their source of livelihood also resulted in the drastic loss of weight to their cattle during the closure and believe the assembly must construct a new place for them to avert such future incidents.
“We bought the cattle on credit which we must pay for from sales of the meat. Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened because of the closure and the animals are losing weight and this means we are going to lose revenue,” lamented Sanni Mohammed, one of over 30 butchers operating from the facility.
Mohammed who said he and his colleagues depended on the job to feed themselves and their families said though they met with the MCE of the area, Ebenezer Tetteh Kupualor over the issue, the problem was yet to be addressed.
The Slaughterhouse, which produces about 90% of the meat consumed across the Yilo Krobo Municipality remains the only meat Processing centre in the Municipality.
A team from the district veterinary services department locked up the facility, leaving the butchers with no alternative to carry out their activities.
The facility has come under criticism within the past months over unhygienic conditions and though works on a new facility were expected to start last year, nothing has been done ever since.
“They brought a contractor last year where they took pictures and assured us that work was beginning soon. The contractor came and even rented accommodation for his workers. After a week, however, work did not start and the contractor left,” Sanni recalled.
“All we want is the construction of a new abattoir for us to work to feed our children. We are losing a lot in the process. We call on the MCE to address this situation for us as soon as possible.”
Members of the Zongo Community, Butchers, Herdsmen, Meat Vendors, as well as food vendors whose livelihood depended on the services rendered from the Slaughterhouse would have to look elsewhere for their means of survival if nothing was done to address the situation.
The butchers lament that no prior information was given them prior to the closure, adding that no alternative provisions were also made for them to carry out their slaughtering activities.
The distraught butchers are therefore calling on the MCE, Ebenezer Tetteh Kupualor, to immediately provide the Abattoir he promised in his first Town Hall Meeting held at the Somanya Community Centre.
The MCE, in his maiden Town hall meeting held at the Somanya Community Center reechoed the NPP's commitment to that promise and indicated that work was going to commence on the Abattoir in his first Hundred (100) days in office.
