The Accra Metropolitan Sanitation court on Thursday granted GH¢2,000 bail each with one surety to three store owners who refused to register with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s (AMA) accredited waste management company for their refuse to be collected.
Mr Sadique Forsia of Forzis Fashion, Nana Yaa Achiaa of Beracah One Limited and Yaa Temah, of Blessed Woman Enterprise all pleaded not guilty to the charges and the case was adjourned to March 3, 2011 for hearing.
Prosecuting, Miss Linda Kumbonu of the AMA Public Health Department told the court presided over by Miss Janet Anima Marfo that on January 28, 2011 the AMA Public Health Taskforce visited their shops at Menaba Plaza near Rawlings Park and found that the accused persons had not registered with the accredited Company, Merskworld for their waste to be collected.
She said on January 15, the AMA in a bid to rid the city of filth, declared Accra a Millennium City and every household, organisations and other small scale businesses were ordered to register with accredited waste management companies in their areas.
Miss Kumbonu told the court that health education going on had created much awareness in the Metropolis but some recalcitrant store owners had refused to register to pay a fee for their refuse to be collected.
She said they rather resorted to the use of unapproved ways of disposing of their waste matter by engaging the services of head pan collectors popularly known as “Kaya Bola” who dumped them into open drains after collecting their money which would cause flooding when it rains.
Miss Kumbonu said a statutory notice was served on them to comply and a notice served on them to comply and register but they failed to do so, hence the need for summons to be served on them to appear in court.