Ghana’s capital, Accra may suffer a major sanitation crisis with a potential outbreak of cholera and other diseases.
This crisis alert comes from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) announced all landfill sites within the city have reached full capacity.
During a working visit by the Parliamentary Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources, Engineer Solomon Noi, the Director of Waste Management at AMA, warned that the situation has become increasingly dire due to the absence of engineered landfill sites and proper waste disposal infrastructure.
“We used to dump at a place called Nsumia in Ga West, after Blue Skies, and it was a quarry site. Once we filled that depression, we had to move to where we are now, Nsawam. Nsawam Adoagyiri was using it too, and it later became a Greater Accra and Eastern Region site which is now privately managed by West Landforce,”.
According to him, the city previously relied on sites such as Nsumia in Ga West, a former quarry, and later Nsawam, which now serves both Greater Accra and the Eastern Region under private management. However, with these sites at full capacity, the only engineered landfill remains at Kpone, with discussions underway to establish a new site at Ayidan in the Ga South Municipality.
He emphasized that, without intervention, the health risks are alarming.
Rainfall exacerbates the problem as leachate seeps into rivers, contaminating water sources and increasing the spread of diseases like cholera and typhoid.
Mr. Noi reiterates the need for an intermediate waste treatment facility, recommending a state-of-the-art incineration plant to handle non-recyclable materials, including medical waste and sanitary products.
According to him, incineration would destroy harmful pathogens, preventing further disease transmission.
The AMA urges swift government action to address the waste crisis before it evolves into a full-scale health emergency.
