Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has finally woken from its deep slumber on sanitation enforcement, but only after a social media storm exposed the appalling conditions of a Kenkey mill opposite Adehye Market.
The Assembly, alongside the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), has now ordered the immediate shutdown of the facility, but their delayed response raises serious concerns about institutional negligence.
For years, the mill operated in filth flouting basic hygiene regulations right under the noses of KMA’s Environmental Health officers, whose job it is to prevent such health hazards.
It took an outraged public, not diligent officials, to push for action. A viral Facebook campaign exposed the disgusting state of the facility, shaming both KMA and the FDA for failing to enforce sanitation laws despite their supposed mandate to protect public health.
With their credibility in tatters, KMA and FDA officials scrambled to save face.
On February 20, 2025, they conducted a joint inspection, which confirmed what the public had long known the mill was a breeding ground for disease, violating Section 52 of the Public Health Act and KMA’s own sanitation bye-laws.
Despite this, instead of an immediate closure, authorities merely ordered the operators to clean up and await further directives.
Unsurprisingly, a follow-up visit the next day, February 21, revealed that the operators had ignored the weak warning.
Only then did KMA issue a closure notice, barring access to the facility “until further notice.”
The Assembly has since warned that any attempt to resume operations without clearance will result in legal action a threat that rings hollow given their history of inaction.
The hypocrisy of the KMA and FDA is glaring. Why did it take public outrage to spur them into action? How many other unsanitary food processing facilities are being ignored due to their negligence? The same officials now preaching food safety were, until Facebook exposed them, complicit in allowing a hazardous facility to operate freely.
Signed by Metro Environmental Health Officer Kwaku Poku, the closure directive attempts to project KMA’s commitment to food safety, but in reality, it exposes their habitual incompetence.
The public must now ask: will the Assembly remain proactive in enforcing hygiene standards, or will it continue to sleep on its responsibilities until another scandal forces its hand?
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com.gh/Isaac Justice Bediako
