Flies invade Aklamafu town

Aklamafu, a farming community at Gbi-Wegbe, near Hohoe, has been invaded by flies from a landfill site created by the Hohoe Municipal Assembly about half a kilometre from the community.

The situation is creating panic among the residents who are being haunted by fears of an imminent outbreak of an epidemic. This is because the flies go as far as their living rooms and bedrooms at night.

Togbe Akpaka II, chief of the town, and Gabriel Dometi, an elder of the community, expressed concern about the development and appealed to the municipal assembly to take immediate steps to address the situation by spraying the dump site and the community on regular basis.

Mr Dometi disclosed that a British hydrologist and a friend of his told him that the garbage at the site could contaminate the community underground water system in the next 50 years.

He said during the rainy season, effluent from the land fill site drains into the community's water bodies making the environment messy.

When contacted, Mr Maxwell Titriku, the assemblyman for Gbi-Wegbe-Godenu Electoral area, said some time ago the Zoomlion Company took up the responsibility of occasionally spraying the site to combat the insect vector; but that had been stopped. He could not assign any reason.

The Hohoe Municipal Environmental Health Officer, Mr Daniel Ayittey Otoo, for his part, appealed to the municipal assembly to support the Zoomlion Company to resume the regular fumigation of the site to reduce the menace.

He announced the assembly's plans to construct a treatment plant to convert the refuse into manure for use by farmers.