There’s mounting tension between the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly and the Bolgatanga Butcher Association over prices to be charged by the Assembly for the use of the facilities at the Yorogo abattoir.
While butchers at the ultra-modern abattoir at Yorogo; a suburb of Bolgatanga initially insist that they will pay Ghc5 to the Assembly to slaughter a cow and pay only Ghc2 when they slaughter a goat, the Assembly also insisted that per the fee fixing resolution of the Assembly, the prices were to be coated at Ghc45-60 for a cow and Ghc20 for a goat.
The prices became a bone of contention between the two groups. After a series of meetings with the management committee put in place to supervise the use of the abattoir, it was agreed that the butchers would pay Ghc30 for the slaughter of a cow; a price that falls below the fees fixed at the Assembly.
The price to be charged for the slaughter of a goat at the facility however remains a vexed one. While the Assembly insists that the butchers must pay Ghc5, the butchers insist they can only pay Ghc2. Prices that are a far cry from the ones arrived at by the Assembly’s fee-fixing resolution.
When Rex Asanga, the MCE for Bolgatanga spoke to Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith on the Day Break Upper East Show today, Wednesday, September 7, 2022, he explained that it has become necessary to revise the fees from the paltry Ghc2 for a cow and Ghc1 for a goat.
“For many years, since 2013, they have paid Ghc1 for slaughtering a goat and Ghc2 for slaughtering a cow. The Assembly sat unconcerned. I do not know why,” he said.
This is because running the fully automated service at the facility is draining the Assembly.
“Because they were at the old slaughterhouse and the Assembly didn’t pay anything to manage the place, the Assembly took their mind of the fact that we needed to collect revenue. Now, I can tell you that even before they went there, all the conditions they gave us; additional work which we didn’t anticipate, we have spent a lot. The Assembly had to begin to use its own resource to meet those conditions. We still owe contractors as of now.”
According to the MCE, to ensure that the machines work well, two consultants have been put on retainer and are currently housed, fed and paid by the Assembly.
Mr. Asanga maintained that the Assembly would not back down in its attempt to charge Ghc5 per goat slaughtered at the facility.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
