A youth-led gender-balanced advocacy group, Green Africa Youth Organisation has condemned the alleged military brutalization of waste workers by alleged military personnel at the Tetegu dump site in the Greater Accra Region.

The Group in a press statement signed by Co-founder, Desmond Alugnoa stated that “that waste worker, like all other workers in our society, have rights and those rights must be respected by all who come into contact with them.”

“We condemn in no uncertain terms this brutal act and any attempt to intimidate waste workers and by extension any resolve to abuse their rights,” portions of the release stated.

According to the group, “the fracas over where to dump refuse is no fault of theirs as the government has over the years failed to dialogue with stakeholders in the informal waste management value chain.”

The group explained that “government has failed to engage both sides of this issue, the informal waste workers and the operators of the dump sites and this inaction has led to this misunderstanding between the parties.”

Green Africa noted that “In a civilized setting, and a democratic one like Ghana, violence has never and will never be a solution and it is regrettable that agents of the state will engage in such a malignant act in furtherance of an agenda on behalf of the state.”

As a result, they recommended for government to “take immediate steps to engage with all relevant stakeholders and begin integrating informal waste workers into waste management activities to avert these avoidable incidents.”