By: Seidu Bomanjo. GBC Upper West Region
Zoomlion Ghana, a private waste management and environmental sanitation service provider company in Ghana, has embarked on a four-day refuse dump site evacuation exercise covering seven (7) out of the eleven (11) districts of the Upper West Region.
The seven beneficiary districts where the exercise was carried out include Nadowli-Kaleo district, Daffiama Bussie Issa district, Wa West district, Lambussie Karni district, Wa East district, Nandom municipality, and Sisala West district.
The exercise commenced on Tuesday, February 20, and ended on Friday, February 23, 2024.
The completion of the exercise saw the successful evacuation of eleven (11) major refuse dump sites across the randomly selected seven (7) districts in the region.
At the Nadowli Kaleo district during the exercise, the District Chief Executive for Nadowli-Kaleo, Madam Katherine Lankono, praised Zoomlion Ghana for the initiative and for the selection of her district to be part of the exercise saying that heaps of refuse at refuse dump sites posed a serious threat to people, especially those staying around refuse dump sites.
“The evacuation exercise is a good intervention by Zoomlion Ghana, especially if it can be sustained for a long time to come,” she added.
Highlighting the impact of the exercise in her district, Madam Katherine Lankono said that the refuse evacuation exercise will reduce disease infection, which will go a long way to ensuring that people who would otherwise end up at the hospital will now be healthy, and that it will go a long way to ensuring productivity in the district and its catchment areas.
She, however, urged Zoomlion Ghana to regularise the evacuation exercise by providing more waste bins and containers in the district in order to regulate waste management disposals.
At Dafiama Isa Bussie district, an elderly statesman and retired educationist, Mr. Thomas Sondire, highly commended the waste management company for undertaking the evacuation exercise, saying it will promote the health condition of people in the district and described the exercise as very timely before the start of the rainy season.
He bemoaned the bad attitude of people who indiscriminately disposed of waste anywhere and practiced open dedication as a serious health threat to human lives.
On regulating the indiscriminate disposal of waste in his community and the district at large, Mr. Thomas Sondire said that, with the completion of the evacuation exercise, community members will serve as watch dogs in order to prevent people who engage in indiscriminate waste disposal and open defecation by sensitising the entire community members and the district at large on the need to keep the environment clean.
The approximate tonnage of refuse evacuated during the exercise, according to Zoomlion Ghana’s Evacuation Team, has been pegged at 92,414.75 tons.
According to the Upper West Regional Manager of Zoomlion, Mr Venantious Kuudir, the evacuation is geared towards ensuring a clean and healthy environment in the Upper West Region and beyond.