A Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Government and Rural Development, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, has called for compensation for rice farmers close to the Gbalahi landfill site in Tamale in the Northern Region whose farms were destroyed by polluted flooding waters from the site.
“I must commend whoever is managing the landfill [Gbalahi landfill] here because I have gone up there and I like the way the place has been compacted,” Mr Vanderpuye made the proposal when members of three Parliamentary Select Committees paid a working visit at the Gbalahi landfill on Wednesday, April 28, 2021.
….I was here last year and it was bad but this time it is very good. I would like to, however, recommend that rice farmers who had to relocate due to the dumping site are given some compensation by the government,” he recommended.
The three committees were on local government and rural development, works and housing, and environment.
According to Mr Vanderpuye, who is the MP for Odododiodio, many of the rice farmers, relocated due to the poisonous water coming from the Gbalahi dumping site, adding that “…and so I am particularly happy I am seeing this.”
He, therefore, used the opportunity to praise managers of the Tamale landfill site for managing it well.
The Chairman of the Committee on Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Emmanuel Akwasi Gyamfi, encouraged Zoomlion Ghana Limited to speedily complete the ongoing construction of Integrated Recycling and Compost Plants (IRECoPs) in all the sixteen (16) regions.
The IRECoPs, he pointed out, when completed, will help in tackling the problem of waste management in the country.
“I would like to commend Zoomlion Ghana Limited for the good job done so far. We will, however, like to encourage the company to speed up works on the projects to help in solving the sanitation issues in the country,” he encouraged.
He indicated that all the 16 regions were ready for the operationalisation of the waste treatment facilities.
He also applauded Zoomlion for taking up the challenge of constructing liquid and solid waste treatment facilities across the country.
“It is a big challenge and one that should have been taken up by the government, but the collaboration between Zoomlion and the government is laudable,” he noted.
According to him, members of the three committees were impressed with the progress of work and management of the Gbalahi landfill site.
“Members of the committees are happy with what we are witnessing here at the Tamale landfill site,” he said.
He was also full of praise for the Northern Regional Coordinating Council for their efforts in managing waste in Tamale and its adjoining towns and communities.
The General Manager (GM) of Waste Landfills Company Limited, Peter Dagadu Kwei assured the parliamentarians that his outfit was putting in place measures to facilitate the smooth operation of the recycling plant.
He indicated that by the end of August, this year, the Tamale IRECoP will begin operations.
On that score, he drummed home the need for the enforcement of the sanitation bye-laws by the local assemblies.
Members of the three parliamentary select committees have been touring some recycling plants across the country and are impressed with the work done so far.
Already, the team has visited landfills and ongoing construction of IRECoPs in regions including Western, Western North, Ahafo, Bono and Ashanti Regions.
Having finished with the Northern Region tour, the team will conclude its work with trips to the Savannah and North East Regions before Parliament reconvenes.
