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Garden City now ‘city of stores’

Kumasi, once the Garden City of Ghana, is now the city of stores.

Stores continue to spring up at any available spaces and corners of the metropolis either by the Metropolitan Assembly, a private contractor or individuals, or some prominent citizens some of whom do not have building permits.

Old buildings at Adum, the hub of business, and Dr Mensah, among other areas are being developed into three, four and five storey building, all in the name of stores. 

The development is so intense that even school compounds are being turned into stores as in the case of Asem Boys’ School, in Kumasi.

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It would interest one the more to know that the Subin drainage, which stretches through the Railway Corporation at Kejetia, has stores constructed on it.

The fact is, there is no provision of toilet or urinal facilities in these stores which has resulted in the store owners using the already choked gutters by the streets as the dumping ground of urine and other faecal matter.

Almost all the stores at Adum, the hub of business, do not have a place of convenience and the store owners use the gutters thus making it unpleasant walking through the streets especially on a sunny day, as one is greeted by the pungent smell emitted from them.

It is a common sight to see most women displaying cooked food (rice, yam, red red, etc) by the gutters and this poses a serious health danger or hazard to consumers. 

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Majority of the fast food sellers also come to the edge of these gutters to do business without the slightest knowledge of any health implications. 

But, health experts say there is a serious health implication when one is exposed to pungent odour emitting from the gutters or elsewhere.  

According to a former Kumasi Metropolitan Health Services Director, Dr Kwasi Yeboah-Awudzi, “people who are staying near offensive smell almost all the time can be potentially at risk of having nausea, headaches, depression, increased anxiety, elevated blood pressure, decrease in physical energy, asthma attacks in asthmatic patients as well as physical discomfort (aches and pains)”.

Pregnant women are mostly at risk of contracting other infectious diseases like dysentery, typhoid, cholera among others when exposed to such smelly environment.

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Dr Yeboah-Awudzi, therefore, urged pregnant women, the elderly and people with chronic health problems like asthma, not to be exposed to such odour as it would have negative health impact on them.

Surprisingly, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly has no specific bye-laws which mandate store owners or occupants to provide toilet facilities thus making the developers have a field day.  

The city engineer of the KMA, David Ameyaw, admitting that the Assembly has no specific bye-laws on the provision of toilets in the stores, by owners or occupants, noted that the Assembly had some bye-law (House Owners, Occupants bye-laws 2018, section 103, subsection 1H), which prohibits the construction of a house without adequate toilet facility, which is applicable to store owners and occupants.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         He explained that subsection 2 of section 103 of the House Owners, Occupants bye-laws is used to prosecute a person who contravenes subsection 1H of section 103 of the bye-law and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than 100 penalty units -equivalent of GH¢1,200.00 or three months imprisonment or both. 

The Engineer said the Assembly was rolling out a project to change the phase of the metropolis and as part of the project, there would be first class public place of convenience at vintage areas where stores have sprung up to avoid the use of gutters as dumping ground.

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He pointed out that the proposed project would ensure that private contractors submit a detailed plan with the provision of toilet and urinal facilities to the Assembly before any construction could take place.

He assured that KMA would ensure all newly constructed stores at Adum and parts of the central business areas would have toilet facilities to ensure comfortability.

He said that it was the duty of the Assembly’s health directorate to enforce the bye- laws that expect building owners and occupants to provide toilet facilities.

Source: Ghanaian Times

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 GFP founder Akua Donkor passes on

• Akua Donkor

Akua Donkor

 The founder and leader of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), Madam Akua Donkor, has passed away.

She died at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital on Monday, October 28 at 72.

Reports gathered by The Spectator indicat­ed that she was diagnosed with respiratory issues at the Nsawam Government Hospital and was referred to the Greater Accra Re­gional Hospital where she died.

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Known for her spirited presence in Ghana­ian politics, Akua Donkor was a staunch advo­cate for the rights of farmers and women.

Her bold and outspoken demeanour en­abled her to capture public attention and significantly impact the grassroots communi­ties she aimed to represent.

Throughout her political journey, she distinguished herself by running for the presidency multiple ti mes, demonstrating remarkable resilience despite financial chal­lenges.

Akua Donkor was listed as the third can­didate on the ballot for the upcoming 2024 presidential election.

Her political career began with her elec­tion as the Assemblywoman for Herman in the Ashanti region, and she made her first bid for the presidency in 2012 as an independent candidate.

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She was, however, disqualified by the Electoral Commis­sion in 2012 and 2016 for the reason that she did not meet the eligibility require­ments.

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 Stop using breast enhancing creams …they expose females to breast cancer

Mrs Enyonam Abiti making a presentation

Mrs Enyonam Abiti making a presentation

 Women have been cautioned to stop using of breast enhancing creams which is said to contain estrogen, predis­posing them to the breast cancer disease.

Using such creams over time in­creases estrogen levels in patrons of such products thereby exposing them to the disease.

Estrogen is a type of sex hor­mone responsible for development and regulation of female repro­ductive system and secondary sex chart.

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Mrs Enyonam Abiti, a medical of­ficer at Madina Pentecost Hospital, said this at a day’s seminar and breast cancer awareness creation day at Sunyani in the Bono Region.

The programme, organised by the Bono Regional office of CO­COBOD, forms part of activities to mark this year’s World Breast Cancer Day celebrations held every year in October.

Some staff of COCOBOD and women in cocoa farming used the opportunity to have their breast screened.

Mrs Abiti during a presentation revealed that one in every eight women was diagnosed of breast cancer while 1 from 1,000 men contract the disease.

She noted that early detection and regular screening was the sur­est way to salvage the situation.

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She mentioned that habits such as excessive smoking and alco­hol intake predisposes women to breast cancer.

Moreover, she added that peo­ple advanced in age, past history, past ovarian cancer case as well as young girls that menstruate early, among others stands the risk of contracting the disease.

The Bono Regional Administrator of COCOBOD, Michael Paddy Kwesi Asumanu, stated that the decision to organise the breast screening was to ensure that women in cocoa farming were healthy at all times to go about their farming activities in order to increase productivity.

“We don’t want a situation where our women in cocoa farming are infected with breast cancer disease to jeopardise the cocoa sector,” he said.

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According him, the Regional Office of COCOBOD in partnership with the Bono Regional Teaching hospital would organised screening for about 4,000 women on Octo­ber 31, 2024 at Goaso in the Ahafo Region.

The move, he said, was part of their corporate social responsibil­ity towards women as the world mark breast cancer awareness creation this month.

Some of the women who spoke to The Spectator commended CO­COBOD for the gesture and called on other institutions of state to emulate the example.

The organisers later held a float on the principal streets of Sunyani to create awareness on the breast cancer disease.

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 From Daniel Dzirasah, Sunyani

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