Elmina Chief Mad At KEEA Assembly

Nana Kwesi Tandoh addressing the press at Edina Essaman

The Chief of Edina Essaman, who doubles as Gyasehene for the Edina Traditional Council in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo Abrem (KEEA) Municipality of the Central region, Nana Kwesi Tandoh IV has sternly warned the KEEA Assembly to immediately remove all filth and desists from dumping human excreta in the area.

According to the chief, the practice is making life unbearable for people, who live around the dumping site, especially students of Essaman United Primary and Junior High School, a situation he said was affecting students and teachers due to the stench that emanates from the site, which is about 120 meters from the school.

Nana Kwesi Tandoh has therefore slapped the assembly with a GH¢15,000 to cover 16 years of use of the land which ended March 2006.

He has also given them a month to carry out his order or else he will take the necessary action against the assembly for failing to honour their promise to them.

At a press conference held by Nana Tandoh IV on Wednesday on the issue, he disclosed that an agreement, which followed the acceptance of the site, has not yielded any profitable result but created numerous problems for the community.

He indicated that the continuous dumping of refuse in the area without any treatment resulted in Cholera outbreak which affected many people and claimed lives.

In his address, the Gyasehene noted that since 1992 when he together with the council devoted 16.32 acres of land to the assembly as part of measures to solve sanitation problems, the assembly has not kept its promise of managing the waste effectively.

This, he said, has resulted in the outbreak of diseases in the area from time to time.

He indicated that a promise made to them that a recycling factory will be built in the area should they give out their land has not been fulfilled, as the company has been established at Aburansa, a community which refused to offer its land to government to use as dumping site.

'What is good for the goose is naturally also good for the gander. If today, Aburansa is good for a Plastic Recycling Plant and do not find that as an abomination, then we believe all the waste on our land should also be dumped at Aburansa along with the Recycling Plant. We assure KEEA that if it decides to maintain its position to relocate the Recycling Plant, we shall spare no stone unturned. We will fight for our rights,' he stated.

Nana Tandoh IV however called on the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to clear his name as to whether he is a shareholder in the Recycling Plant, adding that some chiefs and people accused him of being a shareholder and had refused to fight for the rights of his people in addressing the problem.

From Sarah Afful & Desmond K. Dapaah, Edina Essaman