On The Execrable Korle Gonno Sanitation

Recently, comparisons were made between Accra and Kumasi to ascertain the one which has the poorest sanitation conditions. Accra was not exempted from that scenario at all. Clearly, Accra, the capital, is being engulfed with poor sanitation and Korle Gonno found in Greater Accra is the worst hit. Since Korle Gonno is in Accra and we are all living in Accra, I would like to draw the general public's attention,government, and any benevolence individuals to the increasingly poor sanitation at Korle Gonno and its environs.

Truly, it is a fact that overcrowding and insanitary conditions have contributed to the outbreak of diseases at Korle Gonno over the years. Some of the sanitation problems include poor toilet facilities, poor drainage, poor market conditions, indiscriminate refuse disposal, unclean slaughter houses and poor sewage disposal.

From my investigations, I have discovered that the recent flood that hit Korle Gonno has once again brought to the fore the need to pay serious attention to sanitation at Korle Gonno to avoid being overtaken by events.

In the light of this, I would like to suggest the following measures to the city authorities to, as a matter of urgency, help improve sanitation in Korle Gonno.

In the first place, there is the need for the authorities to liaise with the district assembly to ensure that toilet facilities are adequately provided for the inhabitants of Korle Gonno to eschew that habit of releasing their human excreta into polythene bags and be throwing into other neighbours ceiling as something to tender as gift, since it appears in most residents in the area do not have these facilities in their homes and therefore continued to patronized the public toilets most of the time.

Secondly, the issue of poor drainage system has to be looked critically once again by the assembly. There is the need for more gutters to be constructed like the Sempe gutter which directs any dirty substances into the Lagoon whenever the rains come. Also, more gutters must be constructed along the major roads and streets to direct the flood water to its proper destination and also check the perennial problem of flooding which hits the area during heavy downpours.

On the other hand, there is the urgent need for the committee to effectively check the discriminate refuse disposal in the area.Most residents in Korle Gonno often dump refuse in unauthorized places such as DOGO near the sea with impunity.Meanwhile, the committee need to go round the area to inspect some of these things in order to bring culprit into book.

Finally, the city planners should ensure that clean up exercises are held periodically to clean the whole area. Weeding and cleaning of places such as Korlebu Teaching Hospital and Korle Lagoon itself, I believe would help put the area in good shape.

It is my fervent hope that every concerned citizen, general public, NGO and any individual would consider these suggestions to help redress this seemingly insurmountable sanitation problem in the area of Korle Gonno.