It will not be long before the city of Accra is hit with a resurgence of the cholera epidemic if nothing is done urgently about the filth that have engulfed major markets in the capital.
The insanitary conditions prevailing at the Kaneshie market where most of Accra gets their food stuff gives credence to the fact that attitudes have not changed after the country recorded its worse cholera outbreak a couple of months ago.
Tonnes of garbage spill onto the streets at the market waiting to be collected. It is a common sight to see fruits and vegetables, and other food stuff displayed near the refuse on a daily basis and with onset of the rains, the obvious consequences are very predictable.
Recent figures on the chorlera situation in the country indicate that over 20,500 cases of cholera were recorded in the Greater Accra Region alone as of February 2015. Out of the figure, 121 deaths were recorded.
This huge numbers of infections and deaths recorded in the capital were attributed to the breakdown in the waste management system in the Metropolis.
Target 7c of the MDGs is that by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation in both rural and urban areas should have been reduced by half.
With the current difficulty by the government to managing waste in the city, attaining these goal posses a great challenge.
Waste collection and management in the city is poor and Accra is filthy, such that some concerned citizens are planning a public protest, dubbed “The Clean Accra March”, to protest against the unhealthy conditions in the city.
The Accra metropolis generates in excess of 2,000 tonnes of garbage daily, but collection and proper disposal of waste has become a major hurdle for city authorities.
Indications are that if pragmatic steps are not taken early enough, the country is likely to be plunged into an even bigger epidemic in the near future.
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