Mr. Speaker, I wish to
say right away that, yes, my Ministry has been aware of the outbreak of anthrax in Kaadi. Specifically, the disease occurred at Sakpari-Natinga which is regarded as a suburb of Kaadi.
Mr. Speaker, on 15th March, 2005, a farmer from the area reported to the Municipal Veterinary Officer that one of his cattle had died suddenly without any premonitory signs. In other words, the animal did not show any signs of ill- health before dying. The farmer went on to inform the Veterinary Officer that the dead animal had bloody discharges from the nostrils, mouth and anal opening.
Veterinary staff of the Ministry in Bawku immediately went to the affected kraal, took samples from the dead animal for examination in the laboratory of the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital where anthrax was confirmed upon examination of the blood smears.
Mr. Speaker, while the Ministry's staff were in the field on 17th March, 2005, investigations revealed that another farmer, Ndebugre Ndag, also lost a bull on the 7th March, 2005. The owner of the dead animal died in the Bawku Hospital on 15th March, 2005 from eating the carcass.
Control measures were immediately put in place by staff of my Ministry. These measures included treatment of animals in the affected herd (in contacts) with heavy doses of antibiotics, ring vaccination of all cattle and small ruminants within eight kilometres radius of the outbreak focus. The area was put under quarantine and all movement of livestock in and out of the area banned.
Mr. Speaker, obviously the hon. Member for Binduri made his Statement after the problem had occurred and my Ministry had taken steps to resolve it.
Mr. Speaker, the cost of vaccination of an animal is ¢2,000.00 only and not ¢3,000.00 to ¢5,000.00 as was said on the floor of the House.
The hon. Member for Binduri together with his hon. Colleagues on the other side clamoured for the vaccination of the animals against anthrax to be made free. It will interest hon. Members to know that at the cost of ¢2,000.00 per vaccine, the charge is heavily subsidized by Government. [Hear! Hear!] Production cost for the vaccine is about ¢9,000.00.
I, therefore, find it interesting to note that the hon. Member for Binduri gave the impression that livestock owners in his constituency were so poor that they could not afford to pay the ¢2,000.00 per cattle vaccinated. Mr. Speaker, the value of one cattle is in the range of ¢3 million to ¢4 million on the market. We cannot run away from the economic interest of our livestock farmers.
An example that happened in another part of the country, Mr. Speaker, is as follows: An owner of ten cattle who wanted to ensure his animals were vaccinated, sold one local fowl for ¢20,000.00 and was able to pay for the vaccination of his ten cattle. This is the type of example we
want other farmers to follow, and I call on the hon. Member for Binduri to assist in educating livestock farmers in his constituency on the importance of such economic activity.
Mr. Speaker, there are quite a number of areas in this country where anthrax has occurred in the past and these areas are referred to as “anthrax belts”. For these areas, it is my Ministry's policy to go in, usually before the onset of the rains, to vaccinate the animals against the disease. Some of the areas include Saboba/ Chereponi, Wa, Tolon/Kumbungu and Santa/Tuna/Kalba.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to assure hon. Members that wherever anthrax has occurred in this country, my Ministry has been very quick to go in and effectively controlled the disease.
One serious aspect of the disease, Mr. Speaker, is when there is human involvement. There is the tendency for people to consume carcasses of animals which have died of unknown causes. This is the real danger. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, I wish to dismiss the statistics given by the hon. Member for Binduri that 15 people died from anthrax in the last two years from his area.
Our records indicate that apart from the death recorded at Sakpati-Natinga, the only other death from anthrax was in Wa West in April, 2005. Five other people at Wa West, however, developed malignant carbuncles but were treated. Again, another five people developed the carbuncles in the Santa-Tuna/Kalba area in April, 2005 and were also treated. There were no anthrax-related deaths in 2004.
There is therefore the need for intensive education. I wish to invite hon. Members of the House to join my Ministry in educating
their constituents not to consume carcasses of animals which have died of unknown causes. There have been cases of anthrax in other parts of the country where carcasses have not been consumed and therefore there were no losses of human lives.
Mr. Speaker, Ghana belongs to an international community. Ghana indeed is a member of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). We are obliged to report outbreaks of animal diseases such as anthrax to the organization and to indicate what has been done to control the disease.
Therefore, when an hon. Member comes to the floor of the House to say my Ministry “. . . has not done enough to control the outbreak . . .” when in fact my technical people were there immediately the outbreak occurred and have effectively brought it under control, then we do not do our dear country any good. It is therefore necessary that we check our facts very well before making such damaging reports public to the detriment of our dear nation.
Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, it is sad for the hon. Member for Binduri to report that a report made to the Minister for Food and Agriculture did not receive serious attention. From accounts given, this cannot be a true reflection of the situation. I wish therefore to appeal to hon. Members to avoid making unsubstantiated statements which only indict Ministers for no good reasons and which could also cast a slur on the integrity of those who make the Statements or those who ask the questions.
Mr. Speaker, I want to believe that the hon. Member for Binduri made this Statement because livestock owners have to pay for the vaccination of their animals against anthrax and that there had been a loss of human life in the outbreak.
