Chocked gutters creating mess at market places

By Naa Betty Mingle & Erica Kwapong
It is very unpleasant to see stinky chocked gutters at market places in the capital city, where foodstuffs which are consumed into the human body, are sold. This picture depicts a gutter chocked with plastic and waste products at the Agbogbloshie market at Accra, in the Greater Accra Region.

Most market women have been complaining about the government's inability to clean the gutters frequently, but the Accra File noticed some market women disposing of rotten oranges and other foodstuffs by dumping them into the gutter, instead of the waste container provided in the market.

The Accra File also noticed that the gutters were chocked because the waste containers were sited very close to the gutters, and are left on the street when full for weeks before being collected by the waste trucks.

Meanwhile, most people also throw more rubbish into the containers even when full, and the resultant spillover pours into the gutters/drains, blocking them.

This practice by the market women, and the waste management companies, makes our market places look so repulsive, and brings about the breeding of mosquitoes in our gutters/drains.

This results in the prevalence of malaria, which is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - MDG6 – we are trying to achieve as a nation.

The Accra File is therefore pleading with the waste management companies and market women to keep our markets clean, to also help the government and other organisations in achieving the MDGs, and moving this nation forward.