Residents of Atonsu-Kuwait, a suburb of the Kumasi Metropolis, have sworn to make the lives of managers of the Oti landfill site miserable due to their operations in the area.
According to them, they could no longer bear the strange stench emanating from the site to their homes on daily basis.
Speaking to the Ghanaian Observer Newspaper after leading a group of residents to embark on a 3hour hour demonstration at the site, Mr Elliot Ofosu-Barnor, Assemblyman for Kuwait said no fumigation or whatsoever had been done to the mountainous refuse gathered at the site.
This, he stressed was contrary to the agreement the site managers had reached with residents to weekly fumigate the refuse with some special liquid which helps to reduce the bad smell to bearable levels.
HEALTH HAZARDS:
Mr Barnor with a tearful eye noted they could no longer live normal lives due to the foul odour permeating through their doors, windows and noses.
He stressed many had contracted respiratory diseases owing to the foul smell from the supposed technologically engineered site.
Others, like pregnant women and children have been complaining of severe breath contractions, the Assemblyman disclosed.
The fear, he explained was that in the near future residents who have rightly bought lands and houses close to the Oti site may have to abandon their homes because of the severity of the problem.
SUSTAINED ACTION:
Speaking with profuse anger, Mr Barnor served notice of a sustained action including series of protestations at the area until the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) heed their call for help.
He expressed frustration at the snail pace at which government is responding to the issue they had raised and indicated plans to embark on another demonstration in 14 days if the situation persisted.
According to him, several letters and petitions had been advanced to the managers and the KMA but they had blatantly refused to heed their call for help.
He, however, revealed residents never had cause to complain about the activities at the site during its earlier stages ten years ago.
According to him, a different story was told during the Kufuor administration where managers at that time fumigated the site continuously.
