The Ayawaso West Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Ms Sandra Owusu-Ahenkorah, has cautioned that residents who engage in indiscriminate dumping of waste will be arrested and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.
According to her, the government’s agenda of making Accra the cleanest capital city in Africa could not be achieved, if stringent measures were not taken to change the attitude of residents towards proper waste disposal.
The MCE said this when she supervised the clearing of refuse by one Emmanuel Atsu, a resident of Ayigbe Town near Shiashie in the municipality who was caught Thursday dawn dumping refuse at an illegal site in the area.
According to Madam Owusu-Ahenkorah, the culprit was caught by a resident who alerted the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey who also called her to take immediate action.
She indicated that the Environmental Officer who live closer to the area was alerted and the culprit was arrested as he was leaving the scene.
The MCE stated that Mr Atsu’s act was one of the numerous threats the assembly was adopting measures to address, and warned that the “war” against indiscriminate disposal has just started.
“We have the Bye-Laws to address such indiscriminate acts. Anyone caught would not be spared,” she added.
Mrs Owusu-Ahenkorah said the location of the dump which was directly under the high tension cables posed great danger to the numerous residential properties and offices close by and would not be allowed to continue.
She said the culprit after the clearing would be taken to court to serve as deterrent to others.
Mr Atsu who admitted dumping refuse in the area pleaded for forgiveness and promised not to repeat the act.
The Municipal Environmental Officer, Shani Mu-Stalla urged the residents to avoid dumping in the area or risk being evicted.
He said every effort would be made to provide them with refuse containers to keep the area clean, adding that the environmental unit would step up monitoring and inspection to stop the indiscipline act.
BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU