Waste contractors ask AMA to pay them

12/05/08
Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
PRIVATE waste management contractors have threatened to embark on a demonstration to demand the payment of the GH¢12.5 million owed them by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA).
The 17 members of the Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA) gave the AMA a one-week ultimatum to pay the money, and threatened to suspend all their services if the assembly did not meet that deadline.
An executive member of ESPA, Mr Kwabena Kyei, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the waste contractors “are not intentionally taking an industrial action, but it is inevitable, since we do not have funds to operate”.
He said the GH¢12.5 million outstanding fee was an accumulation from last year that the AMA owed the waste contractors owed the AMA.
Mr Kyei said following the inability of the AMA to settle the arrears, the Central Government started paying the waste contractors from the HIPC and District Assemblies Common Funds with the anticipation that the AMA would pay the difference.
However, he said, since March this year, the government had not given the contractors any money, following the inability of the AMA to settle the difference.
Mr Kyei indicated that the cessation of the payment had affected their operations and landed them in financial difficulty.
He said the waste contractors owed their banks a lot of money because they could not get their money to pay back their loans.
More so, he said, due to the financial difficulty, the waste contractors were not able to pay the salaries of their workers, and that they could also not pay their fuel and spare parts suppliers.
As a result, Mr Kyei said, most of the vehicles used for the waste collection had broken down, thus affecting their operations.
“Our creditors are chasing us, salaries of our workers are outstanding for months, while most of our vehicles have broken down due to lack of maintenance,” he said.
Mr Kyei expressed worry that the whole Accra metropolis would be engulfed in filth if the AMA or the Central Government did not pay the contractors.
Besides, he said, there was the possibility of an outbreak of diseases in Accra as a result of the heap of refuse at the various markets, lorry stations and residential areas.
Mr Kyei said following the protestation of members of ESPA recently, the government had set up a committee chaired by the Chief Advisor to the President, Mrs Chinery Hesse, to look into the issue.
However, he said, “information reaching us indicates that they are not looking at the issue with the urgency it deserves”.
“So we are appealing to the Chief Advisor and her team to expedite action on our grievances,” he requested.
Refuse has piled up at various markets, lorry stations and residential areas in the Accra metropolis following the inability of the waste contractors to lift the refuse containers.