Environmental health officials in the Ashanti Region have warned they will not hesitate in prosecuting food vendors who sell in unsanitary conditions.

Officials have begun engaging food vendors within the Kumasi metropolis to sensitise them on the effects of cholera and other communicable diseases.

The vendors have been challenged to site their selling places in appropriate and healthy environments to avoid being conduits for the transmission of diseases.

A World Health Organization situational report on cholera outbreak in Ghana indicates the country has recorded some 591 confirmed cholera cases with five deaths between January and May this year.

Speaking to Class News’ regional correspondent, Hafiz Tijani, on the sidelines of a forum organised by the Ghana Health Service for food vendors on cholera sensitisation at the Kumasi Cultural Centre, Ashanti Regional Environmental Health Director, Paul Akanaba, said his office would liaise with city authorities to enforce environmental laws.

“I have told them where and where they can sit and sell food and we have told them even before you can sit and sell food, you have to seek permission from the assembly. The assembly has officers who can tell you: ‘This is where you can sit’ and if you fail to comply then the law can take its course [and] there are several laws that we can apply to those who do not comply with the necessary regulations,” he stated.

According to him, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has been prosecuting food vendors who sell under unhygienic conditions and will continue to do so.

He, therefore, advised vendors to “comply with personal hygiene, comply with other hygienic methods like washing of hands before cooking food, washing of hands after visiting the toilet and then trimming their finger nails and covering their food against flies”.