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Residents in the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TaMA) would have to brace themselves to grapple with the poor sanitation situation in the metropolis for a while. This is because; TaMA is challenged with funds to deal with the situation.
For the TaMA, sanitation management remains the major challenge and an albatross hanging around their necks.
The assembly was supposed to raise four million Ghana cedis annually to manage sanitation situation in Tamale but was able to raise two million cedis.
An estimated 300 tons of refuse are generated every day in the metropolis and the average assembly is able to collect 82% of material in transition. TaMA says its inability to hit the 100% mark was as a result of a gap of about two million Ghana cedis in the assembly's annual sanitation budget which stands at a little over 3 million Ghana cedis.
The assembly recognizes the positive impact of the national sanitation day which falls every first Saturday of every month and the contribution of the various security services, chiefs and youth groups.
Addressing some residents at the first Town Hall meeting in Tamale, the Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive, Hanan Gundadoo Abdul Rahman lamented about the high apathy among ordinary citizens to issues pertaining to sanitation.
The assembly with support from central government and donor partners, the mayor said, is implementing major development intervention to raise living conditions of the people.
On the availability of public and institutional toilet facilities, the mayor said his outfit is encouraging residents to construct household toilets to augment those the assembly has provided.
Cataloging a number of ongoing developmental projects, the mayor informs residents that the assembly is embarking on expansion and rehabilitation of health facilities, education and construction of storm drains in the metropolis.
Under the Social Expenditure and Public Financial Accountability (SPEFA) program of the ministry of local government and rural development, assemblies are mandated to organize Town Hall Meetings at least twice in a year and present to the citizenry developmental projects and how much is being spent on them with pictorial evidence. The Thursday Tamale assembly town hall meeting is the first of it since the beginning of 2015.
Landfill site management
During open forum, some residents in the metropolis emanded answers from city authority’s inability to manage the only engineered landfill site in the Northern Region which is under its jurisdiction.
According to them, the assembly should admit that they have failed to manage the dumping of untreated liquid and solid waste at the site in Gbalahi in the Sagnarigu district.
Programs officer of Action Aid Ghana, Alia Mumuni during open forum at the assembly’s first Town Hall meeting on Thursday told the Mayor and the technocrats at the assembly that, the landfill site has been abandoned. Madam Alia said the way and manner vehicle conveying the waste and how they dispose of at the site is an eyesore and its health implications are glaring at everyone.
Madam Alia’s call comes just a day after WaterAid raised concerns about the site which is now posing serious health hazards to the communities around it.
Responding to the concerns, the Tamale metropolitan Chief Executive, Hanan Gundadoo Abdul Rahman dismissed claims that his outfit had abandoned it saying as far the assembly is concerned there has not been any outbreak of disease attributing to poor management of the landfill site.
He admitted that managing the site requires money and that the assembly is doing all it could to address problems at site. He also explained that landfill site across the globe is no longer the solution to managing waste and that the assembly is studying a proposal from a private company which wants to use the waste to make composite fertilizer.
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