By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Traders at the Madina Zongo Junction Market in Accra, Ghana have decried the open gutters in the market and have, therefore, called on the authorities to help solve the problem.
According to them, their health is at risk due to the open gutters with stagnant water emitting pungent scent they endure all day in the market.
They are, therefore, appealing to the La NkwantanangMadina Municipal Assembly to come to their rescue by ensuring that the refuse were cleared and gutters cleaned to save their health.
They said the assembly should assign the officers in the market to ensure that refuse were not dumped indiscriminately, while there was the need to provide litter bins at vantage points in the market.
The head of the Information Department at the Assembly who declined to speak asked this reporter to see the officer in charge of the Environmental and Sanitation Department.
“I need to get authorisation from the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) before I can speak to that”, the officer told the Ghanaian Times.
But, the MCE could not be reached as she was unavailable at the time this reporter was leaving the assembly.
When the Ghanaian Times visited the market on Monday, it observed that some traders displayed their wares and cooked foods close to the open gutters.
Heaps of waste materials which had decorated the market, coupled with the pungent smell made the market environment unhealthy to trade in.
More disturbing was how refuse left on the grounds entangled pedestrians when crossing the road from the market.