Butchers in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region have vowed that they will not use the newly completed abattoir at Yorogo community, a suburb of the Bolgatanga Municipality.
According to the butchers, the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly did not inform them before building the abattoir at Yorogo which they say is far from the Bolgatanga market and could affect their sales.
The abattoir was built with funding from the World Bank and completed two years ago but has since not been occupied by the butchers.
Speaking at the 2019 composite budget hearing organized by the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly last Friday, the butchers’ representatives explained that the location of the facility is part of the numerous reasons hindering them from using it.
“We were not informed about the location of the project. It was only one particular afternoon that one engineer from the Assembly came to inform us that the abattoir will be sited at Yorogo community and was at a point of completion. But my brother, the distance to the place alone is not an easy journey, so we are not going,” one representative said.
The butchers further noted that at the beginning of the project, they (the butchers) suggested three places for the Assembly to consider as site for the abattoir, but the engineers from the Assembly ignored their concerns.
Another butcher said “The engineers from the assembly did as if the project was for them and they only decide on where they wanted it to be built. They did not listen to us, so they can have their abattoir because we butchers are not going anywhere.”
In response, the Bolgatanga Municipal Engineer, Atchulo Daniel, who supervised the construction of the abattoir debunked the claims of the butchers, adding that the butchers were all part of the decision making process of the assembly towards the siting of the abattoir at Yorogo.
Mr. Atchulo lamented why the butchers preferred to use an old stinking abattoir at the Bolgatanga market; rather than the ultra-modern facility that has been put up to meet current standards.
On his part, the Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, Joseph Amiyuure Atura, regretted the actions taken by the butchers and admonished them to make good use of the facility.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHZ|Moses Apiah|Ghana
