Hygiene gone to the dogs at Asafo Market

Unsanitary conditions at Kumasi’s Asafo Market are threatening to drive away customers.
The market, a popular destination for shoppers looking for African products and a busy trading site, is increasingly becoming filthy and unhygienic.
A regular visitor to the market, Mrs Linda Aquah Larbi, told Kessben FM that the conditions are now scaring her away from patronising the market.
The market has only three public toilets which are in a deplorable state. Traders at the market do not use refreshing or splashing water and are often found urinating in the open. Refuse is also dumped anywhere.
Mr Douglas Ogyam, a banker and an environmentalist, has appealed to the Ministry of Health to develop a clear plan to improve the conditions under which the traders sell foodstuffs and other consumables.
He said: “After 27 years of independence, most market women still sell food items on the ground and under unsanitary conditions, which make it easier for the food to be contaminated with bacteria.”
Mr Ogyam suggested that the Ministry of Health and the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly should intervene to improve the poor sanitation at the market in the interest of consumers.
By Evans Osei-Bonsu (Kessben FM)