Parliament has proposed the summoning of Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) before the Local Government Committee of the House over the increasing spate of improper waste disposal across the country.
Members of the House lamented the indiscriminate and improper handling of waste in major cities and towns in the country.
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu, tabled the proposal before the House, indicating that he had, on several occasions, had to intervene in certain instances before waste was collected in different parts of the country.
“It is a very frustrating situation, and I find myself occasionally having to intervene to help address issues of waste that have basically engulfed whole communities, and it is as if the district assembly doesn’t care. I think we must get to a point where DCEs will have to come and answer questions.”
Deputy Minority Leader and MP for Ellembelle, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, also buttressed the First Deputy Speaker’s concerns by saying some assemblies had even stopped the collection of levies in their jurisdictions.
“The Committee on Local Governance can invite them [the MMDAs], and they should invite them and hold them accountable because they have even stopped collecting even local levies, and people eat, carry their rubbish, and dump them indiscriminately.”