The Upper East Regional Minister, Ms Paulina Tangoba Abayage, has called on butchers in the Bolgatanga Municipality to use the newly constructed ultra-modern Abattoir built at Yorogo, a suburb of Bolgatanga for their activities.
The new facility is expected to serve as a new ground for butchers in the Bolgatanga Municipality and other nearby districts in the region, for slaughtering and processing of animal before taking them to the market for sale
The Regional Minister made the appeal when she paid a working to the GH¢1.2 million facility on Friday and found out that the butchers had refused to use the facility since its inauguration in December, 2018.
The Regional Minister said the facility was constructed to ensure that the butchers sell quality and hygienic meat to the general public to help curb diseases and therefore called on the butchers to make good use of the facility.
The facility, which started in July 2017 and completed in 2018, has a bio-digester for the conversion of waste materials into biogas, equipment necessary for slaughtering and processing of the animals, offices, a pavilion and washrooms for the staff.
It also has a kraal to house the animals until they are examined by veterinary officer before they are slaughtered.
In an interview with the Ghanaian Times, the butchers indicated that the place was far from the market and indicated that there was huge cost involved in using the place to slaughter and process meat.
They also accused the Assembly for deliberately relocating the construction site and deviated from what was originally agreed by both the Municipal Assembly and the butchers.
The Secretary of Bolgatanga Butchers Association, Mr Timothy Timbil, revealed that in 2016, officials from the World Bank conducted a feasibility study to find out where the abattoir could be constructed to yield the needed results.
“It was agreed by both the Assembly and we, the Butchers that, the new abattoir should either be constructed at where we are currently operating or it should be taken to the defunct meat factory at Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga East District but the Assembly changed the location to Yorogo without telling us anything,” he lamented.
He said though the leadership of the association had spoken to the butchers to consider going to the place, the butchers particularly the youth were not willing to move to the new site, indicating that the transportation and processing cost involved would not enable them to break even.
The Regional Minister promised, however, to engage with the butchers to persuade them to start using the facility.
FROM SAMUEL AKAPULE, YOROGO
