DANGER AT MAMPONG BESEASE

Residents of Besease near Asante Mampong, particularly children are exposed to real threats of deaths from electrocution should the electricity company of Ghana fail to act swiftly to attend to the main power distribution lines that are just inches overhead the community’s refuse dump. Similarly, the community could experience an outbreak of communicable diseases like cholera anytime soon if the heap of refuse dump is not removed. 

Besease is predominantly a farming community located about seven kilometres from Mampong, capital of the Mampong Municipality of Ashanti. It has a population of about one thousand people and shares boundary with Kyirimfaso. 

 The residents are faced with two serious situations that could result in deaths especially women and children who mostly dispose of garbage at the refuse dump located right in the centre of the town. The first and imminent danger to life is the main electricity supply cables that run just inches above of the refuse dump. The situation is so serious that anyone who attempts to climb to dispose of rubbish at the apex of the refuse dump could be electrocuted.

 

The second danger that could cause a preventable outbreak of communicable disease such as cholera and typhoid is the siting of the community’s refuse dump which is almost the centre of the town. 

The dump, which has existed for many years, was said to have been originally sited at the outskirt of the town but has since remained unattended for which reason, the community has now expanded and developed to literally encircle at the expense of the health of the people. 

It serves as an alternative place of convenience for particularly children as there is no decent toilet facility. According to the people, many years of complaints to succeeding Assemblymen of the town to get the Mampong Municipal Assembly to evacuate it to another place have not been successful.

The Odikro of the town, Nana Kwaku Opoku, lamented that a native of the town resident abroad recently decided to relocate the refuse dump to a place the chiefs have purposely reserved for that purpose but was frustrated by the Municipal Assembly.

The Assembly Member of Besease, Maxwell Adubofuor, rejected accusations that he had failed to get the Assembly to evacuate the refuse dump. According to him, he had made a strong case for its removal during the Assembly’s Meetings but the authorities complain of the huge cost involved in the venture.

As the rains show no signs of stopping anytime soon, the authorities have to act swiftly to evacuate the refuse dump from its present location so as to avert any preventable outbreak of infectious diseases in the twin communities of Besease and Kyirimfaso.