Saul Sebag-Montefiore
A livid Nana Kwesi Tandoh IV (paramount chief of Edina Essaman) again expressed his outrage and astonishment at the unjust treatment of himself, his elders, and his people by the Komenda Edina Eguafo Municipal Assembly.
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| Nana Kwesi Tandoh IV |
The cause of his anger is the 19 years of broken promises, lies and deceit from the municipal assembly and the continued dumping of waste on his people’s land that has caused the creation of a new breed of enormous disease spreading flies. There is much anger in the community as the landowners, farmers and school children in the area all suffer from the presence of this rubbish dump and it’s presence seems to hinder more than aid the lives of people in the surrounding area. Nana has put pressure on the government to change their policies or further action will be taken.
In 1992 there was an urgent need for the creation of a district to enhance infrastructural and social developments in and around Elmina and top of the list of issues was sanitation. There was a demand for a place to dispose of waste and Nana Kwesi Tandoh IV agreed to give 16.32 acres of land until March 2006 to help the Assembly solve this problem. He agreed to do this under the cast iron promises of the Assembly that a recycling plant would be established within his community. The plastic waste on the land would be recycled to produce organic energy (electricity, water, drinking-water, cooking gas). They also promised that landowners would receive 15,000 GH cedis for the use of their land for waste disposal between 1992-2006 and that as a result 3000 jobs would be created by the building of a plastic recycling plant near the site. Initially, there was much enthusiasm for this scheme.
However, the reality of the situation turned out to be somewhat different. In April 2008 Nana Kwesi Tandoh IV first attempted to spark a response to the issues as he announced his concerns that the government had not delivered their promises and had been using the land for their own economic benefit rather than that of the community that they had promised. Now in July 2011 the issue has resurfaced because no significant action has been taken. According to Nana Tandoh IV the following promises have still not been delivered: waste is not being further processed as to provide the jobs that it was claimed the plant would create. The unusually large flies that were born from the rotting refuse at the dump continue to exist as a menace to society (spreading disease – e.g. caused a cholera epidemic) and biting people in the surrounding area. The temporary arrangement between the Assembly and landowners of the payment of 15,000 GH cedis has still not been paid in full despite the fact that the contract for payment ended in March 2006. Nana himself did not disclose the exact sum of the 15,000 that has been paid thus far but he described it as a ‘paltry amount’. The fact that the contract ended in 2006 means that legally the land should have been returned to the landowners 5 years ago.
There is also a mystery over why the recycling plant was located 5kms away from the waste vicinity in the next village despite receiving approval from Dutch surveyors of the feasibility of building the plant in Essaman. As it is they decided to build the plant far away and the Paramount Chief strongly implied that this was done for the companies own economic benefit and not that of the people’s or therefore Ghana. The chief seems to sense an air of corruption about this business as promises continue to be broken and ignored which suggests to him that there was never any intention to aid the community but rather use these ambitious ideas to mask their true motive; to solve their own need to find a place to dump human waste.
| A waste tank offloading human waste |
The issue does not just affect the landowners themselves but also the living and working in the surrounding area. Just down the road from the dump, there is a school. The headmaster stated his belief that ‘the plant and the dump should be relocated elsewhere because the flies and fumes created by the refuse contaminate the food in the surrounding area and the children get bitten by the flies.’ The children of the school also strongly desired the removal of the waste because the pungent smell of rotting human waste often blows down and consumes the school in thick sticky fumes that are so revolting that it takes their minds off learning.
For these reasons, Nana Kwesi Tandoh IV and his followers have set the Assembly a one month ultimatum to ensure ‘the immediate stoppage of the dumping of waste on the land and the removal of the filth on it.’ If the ultimatum is not met by the government then Nana and the angry landowners have declared that they will ‘advance’ their campaign. When asked to expand on what this advance will be the chief preferred not to comment further so as to maintain the element of surprise and shock that they will presumably seek to cause if they are not taken more seriously this time.
These angry, desperate men feel unjustly treated and have been battling for many years against a wall of dishonesty and poor treatment from the assembly. It seems that the creation of this rubbish waste vicinity in Essaman has caused nothing but suffering to those in the surrounding area and Nana and his people have justification for their extreme frustration and outrage as for nearly 2 decades their lives have been thrown wildly out of sync.
| School children affected by the waste disposal closer to their school |
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