The Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly is calling for a new skip truck to address waste management struggles during a parliamentary oversight visit.
A malfunctioning skip truck has become the primary hurdle for waste management in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality, prompting an urgent plea from local leadership to parliamentary officials.. The request for a replacement vehicle was brought to the forefront during a visit from the Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources, which is currently reviewing how municipal assemblies across the country handle essential public services.
Dr.. Matthew Kofi Ayer, the Municipal Chief Executive, highlighted that the broken-down truck has effectively crippled the local authority’s ability to haul waste efficiently.. Currently, the assembly is forced to depend on private operators, an arrangement that has placed an unexpected and heavy financial strain on the municipal budget.
This specific equipment failure highlights a broader, systemic tension between municipal operational needs and the reality of limited funding, showing how localized infrastructure gaps can undermine entire sanitation strategies regardless of other programmatic efforts.
Beyond the logistics of trash collection, the municipal administration has been working to expand access to potable water for its residents.. Through a combined effort between the local Member of Parliament and the Assembly itself, 27 new boreholes have been established to help bridge the service gap in the region.
Zuwera Mohammed Ibrahimah, a member of the parliamentary committee, explained that the visit to Bogoso is part of a nationwide mandate.. The committee is actively gathering input from local authorities and service providers to identify specific bottlenecks that might require policy intervention at the national level.
Committee Chairman John Oti Bless emphasized that sanitation remains a top government priority and warned that the era of vague accountability is coming to an end.. He outlined plans for upcoming televised sessions where assemblies will be required to publicly explain how they manage sanitation and water resources.
Providing a deeper look into the municipal budget, Environmental Health Officer Jerry Kuma noted that while the assembly receives ten percent of the District Assemblies Common Fund for sanitation, it remains far below what is needed for a growing population.. Despite the funding shortfall, the assembly has managed to keep nine of its eleven waste containers active and continues to rely on a workforce of over 60 people to maintain environmental health.
Looking ahead, the municipal office has signaled its intention to focus on desilting local gutters to proactively mitigate flood risks during the upcoming seasons. However, these efforts remain largely secondary to the immediate operational crisis caused by the missing heavy-duty haulage equipment.
Ensuring that local assemblies have the physical assets to match their administrative responsibilities is essential to preventing the collapse of basic public hygiene standards in expanding municipalities.