Residents of Takoradi, Accra, and other towns could be consuming contaminated food products made from cassava, as some traders at Gwira Dominase in the Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira Municipality of the Western Region are reportedly using water from the galamsey-contaminated Ankobra River to prepare cassava dough.
This contaminated dough is then sent to market centers in Takoradi, Accra, and beyond.
The Ankobra River, which serves several communities in the Nzema area of the Western Region, flows about 190 kilometers south to the sea, acting as the boundary between the Ellembelle District and the Nzema East Municipality.
Despite its socioeconomic importance to the region, the river is heavily polluted due to illegal mining activities, according to the environmental NGO Hen Mpoano, which is working on the conservation of the Amanzule area, including the Ankobra and surrounding water bodies.
“Our research shows it is highly polluted with lead, mercury and cyanide which are used by the illegal miners”, said David Osei, the project officer.
The women at Gwira Dominase, who use water from the highly polluted Ankobra River to prepare the dough, say they add “alum” to purify or decrease its turbidity before mixing it with the cassava.
“The turbidity is terrible. We buy alum to purify the water so we can use it to mix the cassava dough for akyeke and that’s what we at Gwiraman eat. We send some to Takoradi, Accra, Kumasi and in fact all across the country”.
“We are pleading with government for an intervention. This is what we drink. You can imagine the chemicals we are consuming,“ they said in an interview.
The women at Gwira Dominase not only sell the Nzema delicacy, akyeke, but also send some of the cassava dough in its raw state to market centers across the country. These are used in making banku and other dishes in many households.
Evans Asamoah Gyimah, the Water Quality Manager at the Western Regional Office of the Ghana Water Company, expressed concern about the wrongful use of alum or potassium aluminum sulfate, which could result in brain health damage and the generation of diseases like Alzheimer’s. He also highlighted the presence of untreated pathogens in the water, aside from heavy metals. Without intervention, these women will continue to use the contaminated water, putting people’s lives at risk.