Traders who ply their trade at Mallam market in Accra battle, on a daily basis, a bad stench emanating from a refuse dump which is at the extreme end of the market.
This is due to a deliberate attempt by management to expand the size of the market which is predominately a waterlogged area.
This has forced management of the facility to deliberately dump refuse onto the targeted area as a means of reclaiming the land to expand the facility.
The situation has created an avenue for bad odour with flies all over the market. Some market women who spoke to the DAILY HERITAGE complained bitterly about the situation which, according to them, was affecting sales.
“What they do is to use the refuse to fill the waterlogged areas in the market because they want to extend the size of the market that is why they heap the refuse.
“Looking at the place it’s very unpleasant and filthy to human health with the tendency of causing an outbreak,” she stated.
Another trader, Mrs Esi Amoah said the place had been turned into a drug hub where people go to smoke and defecate.
All efforts by the paper to speak to attendants of the refuse dump proved futile as none of them was ready to speak.
The Ghana Health Service has warned of possible cholera outbreak in Accra due to the current insanitary conditions in the capital coupled with the onset of the rains.
The Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate of the service said the waste disposal in the capital had become a major challenge following the shutdown of the Accra compost plant.
Head of Health Promotion unit of the Greater Accra Regional Health directorate, Mr Honesty Attah Mensah, said Ghanaians have the ultimate responsibility to protect themselves against contracting cholera and other diseases.
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