Agbogbloshie Again ?

It was a tough mission for the Mayor of Accra, Elizabeth Sackey, and her team as they went to Agbogbloshie to urge traders with fresh foods to vacate unsanitary places they sold their wares, but the traders would not budge. This time around it did not look like there would be kids’ gloves here as the mayor instructed her men to effect arrests. The action left the market area of Agbogbloshie in chaos, intensifying its haphazard nature.

It is known for many years that vendors of agricultural produce have always positioned themselves anywhere in that open space, a good number of them very close to open gutters to the dismay of food scientists but the indifference of passive society.  The Oyibi food poisoning incident seems to have incurred the displeasure of the city authorities, hence the deployment of sanitary inspectors to all locations where food vendors are at the default of the law. It was not a surprise that officials took the beeline to Agbogbloshie aptly the imagery and the symbolism of the situation that required an urgent response.

With their operations, anything between their own devices, and see-sawing, the traders seem to have taken things for granted but not this time around when the authorities have taken swipes for allegedly doing little in the face of the widespread nature of the phenomena, the Oyibi tragedy having induced a clarion reaction.  Rather, the traders acted in defiance of official orders which were met with all the coercive powers the city authorities could muster to clear them from their unapproved locations.

Displaying goods for sale in the open, at times on the very streets of vehicular movement, is a common practice in Ghana. The sheer desire to attract buyers often overrides acceptable behavior. Regardless of health precautions, traders choose anywhere at all to sell their goods including raw and cooked food. Agbogloshie is marked as an environmental disaster zone for being the dumping site for electronic waste and other hazardous items in the wastebasket. The burning of electronic waste at a refuse site in the domain is not the only source of ailments but also the focus of international attention for the wrong reasons. Scientists have proven with empirical evidence the connection between food prepared or sold in unhygienic conditions and ill health. Thus at Agbogbloshie where the worst-case scenario can be found, there is a warning of a possible no-let-up in the exercise to flush out activities that put public health in danger.

The current attention on this particular part of Ghana’s capital is not a knee-jerk, even though it is a persistent scene of unhealthy practice.  The alternative to the oft-resisted traders’ evacuation has been a complete clean-up of the filth in the area by the authorities. It is not clear if the other option is delayed because of a lack of funds or commitment on the part of authorities. What is clear though is that the site has been on the radar of every government for the riddance of unsightly conditions in exchange for something better.