Day and night, children and adults squat around the fields particularly at the abandoned Bolgatanga Children’s Park, the old charcoal market, behind the Assemblies of God gutter to attend nature’s call while some indiscriminately dispose of them in polythene bags.

Tons of used toilet rolls and solid waste, capped with sheets of paper have characterized these places. It is also a truism that some basic schools in the municipality lack toilet and urinal facilities compelling both teachers and students to resort to open defecation.

In Ghana, 85% of Ghanaians do not have a basic toilet, 60% use shared toilets, 6% use unimproved toilets while 19% defecate in the open according to WHO/UNICEF. The Upper East Region recorded the highest rate of 89%.  Ghana spends at least $79million a year to fix the poor sanitation issues.

The failure of landlords to provide toilet facilities coupled with the poor management of limited public toilet facilities in the Bolga municipality have compelled about 89% of residents to resort to open defecation.

According to the Upper East Regional Rent control officer, Mr. Adam Yaminu Kasim, the disregard by most landlords in the municipality to include adjourning facilities such as toilets, stores and kitchens in their building plans subject to approval by the Town and country planning before construction of premises for rent, has been the bane of sanitation officers in the area.

He said the situation had triggered a raid on houses without toilets and over 100 landlords were fined and directed to provide the facilities or in default serve a six-month jail term.

“We have prosecuted over 100 landlords so far in different communities within the Bolga municipality and I can confirm that, when they were fined and given timelines to provide toilet facilities by the Bolgatanaga Magistrate Court, all of them have provided the facilities and reported to me. And when we checked, they had indeed provided latrines for the houses.” Mr. Yaminu stated.

A communications and campaign officer with Water Aid Ghana, Ms. Yvone Kafui, said it was unfortunate that after celebrating 60 years of independence, many Ghanaians still practice open defecation.

“Some of the people to speak to in the communities share with us the embarrassment and the risks associated with open defecation particularly in the nights. People are suffering, they tell us that when they feel like easing [themselves], they have to hold it in till the nights before they can defecate,” she lamented.

Upper East Regional Minister, Rockson Bukari, unhappy about the situation, tasked all Municipal and District Assemblies to form task forces to arrest and prosecute sanitation offenders to end open defecation in the region.

He also issued a three-month ultimatum to property owners to provide sanitation facilities in their buildings or risk serving some time in jail.

“Another area I wish to draw the attention of our people to is open defecation especially in Bolgatanga and the region at large. Our region is rated last nationwide, by a UNICEF report on sanitation because we do not have household toilets and therefore we do it anywhere,” he said.

“While assemblies in other regions are struggling to attain 50% of their target in sanitation, the Upper East hits 130%. We cannot relax on this and we have to take stringent measures to correct it. I am tasking all assemblies to form task-forces to arrest those who defecate openly and send them to court for prosecution.”

“We are also giving landlords who do not have toilets in their house three (3) months to provide them or have their houses locked up. People should report such landlords to the assembly’s sanitation unit because you will be disgraced before the whole world if you are found defecating openly.”

But various assemblies in the region are yet to implement the directives from the Regional Minister.

Following a massive cholera outbreak, a 2014 situational report by the World Health Organization Country Office in Ghana revealed that the epidemic affected 123 out of the 216 districts in the 10 regions.

Giving the situational report of the Upper East Region on the outbreak at a Media Encounter on Cholera prevention in Bolgatanga, the Deputy Director of Public Health, Dr Joseph Opare said the region recorded 287 cases with 9 deaths.

He attributed the outbreak of cholera in the region and the entire country largely to open defecation, explained that there is a relationship between faecal waste and cholera.

According to an observation by the Regional rent control department, landlords will only provide toilet facilities, particularly in the municipality when they are threatened with prosecution.

Mr. Yaminu said that most landlords, for fear of being thrown in jail for not providing toilet facilities, immediately provide the facility, when dragged to court.

He stated that the situation can be changed if government empowers and properly staffs the rent control departments in the country.

“Apart from the regional rent control office with only three staff and the only district rent control office in Navrongo, how do we cover the entire region? Can you imagine, we don’t have a vehicle or motorbike to operate,” Mr. Yaminu noted.

But the Bolga Municipal sanitation officer Mr. Leo Logochura said they have adopted the three-way approach of prosecuting landlords without toilets, making open defecation places inconvenient by regular clearing of weeds and urging owners of open structures to develop them end the menace.

“We have initiated the process of arresting and prosecution of sanitation offenders. In a year, we have prosecuted 29 landlords this year within the municipality for refusing to construct toilets and they have constructed toilets in their households”.

He added that enough sensitization on the negative impact of open defecation was over and that it was time for a radical approach to drastically reduce the menace.

Ms. Kafui of Water Aid Ghana added that “if district assemblies are well resourced to hired more experts to mobilize and empower landlords to use traditional raw materials to construct toilets, open defecation will end”

The Way Forward

It is glaring that, most landlords know the dangers of open defecation but refuse to provide toilet facilities because of the inadequate numbers of sanitation and rent control officers in the country.

Landlords will only comply by constructing toilets when prosecuted for fear of being thrown into jail and the resulting embarrassment.

If Ghana should meet the sustainable development goal six by 2030 then the ‘Tripple Button Approach’ should be adopted.

Government to recruit more sanitation and rent control officers equipped with transport logistics to carry out intense arrest and prosecution of landlords without toilet facilities particularly in the urban areas or towns.

Landlords who fail to construct toilets after prosecution should be used to dig toilets while in jail and proceeds from their toile be used to roof their toilets and be released.

Also, places where open defecation is practiced show be clear and made more visible to the public to discourage the practice by perpetrators.

Police should conduct morning and night swoops at places where the practice is high to aid arrest more landlords for prosecution and encourage tenants or residents to report to either the sanitation or rent control offices of defaulting landlords.

In rural areas, Municipal and district assemblies should collaborate with traditional leaders to educate the people  and provide local technologies on how to use local materials to construct toilets and follow up with arrest and prosecution after a year.

The inability of estate developers and individual uncompleted building projects has created decent avenues for open defecation in Bolga and by extension the country.

They should employ watchmen to police the places till they are ready to complete their projects or face prosecution in default.

President Nana Akufo-Addo, co-chair of the sustainable development goals can set the pace using Ghana by committing financial resources to recruit,  expand and provide critical  logistics to sanitation and rent control offices  in the country to prosecute their mandate, achieving open defecation free by 2030 will be a mirage.

This feature is produced with support from Media Foundation for West Africa and the UNDP-Ghana.

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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The South Sudanese authorities intercepted arms, ammunition and other items in a container which was mistakenly labelled as construction materials by the United Nations (UN).

The four-member delegation, led by the Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr Ebenezer Okletey Teye Larbi, is tasked to hold meetings with the South Sudanese authorities and United Nations (UN) officials on the need to hand over the military equipment to the Ghanaian soldiers.

Other members of the delegation are the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Richard Opoku-Adusei, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Security, Mr Fritz Baffour, and the Forces Sergeant Major, Chief Warrant Officer Owusu Dickson.

The Minister of Defence, Mr Mark Woyongo, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, indicated that the UN shipped the container from Cote d’Ivoire to South Sudan in February this year.

He said the container was meant to be delivered to the military base of the Ghanaian soldiers in South Sudan but it was intercepted by South Sudanese officials.

He said following discussions between President John Mahama and his South Sudanese counterpart, Salva Kiir,the South Sudanese authorities agreed to release the container.

However, after scanning the container, the South Sudanese authorities found that it contained military equipment and subsequently decided not to give it out again.

The minister said following that decision, he called the South Sudanese Ambassador to Ghana last Thursday for a meeting on the issue.

He said it was the outcome of that meeting that a decision be taken to send the delegation to South Sudan to talk with the authorities there to seek the release of the equipment.

Safety of Ghanaian soldiers

There are currently 300 Ghanaian soldiers on a peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. The soldiers were earlier in Cote d’Ivoire before they were moved to South Sudan in February this year.

According to Mr Woyongo, Ghana would be sending an additional 550 soldiers to

South Sudan by the end of July this year to raise the number to 850 and form a battalion.

He said it was, therefore, important for the South Sudanese authorities to release the military equipment to the Ghanaian soldiers for them to protect themselves against attacks.

The minister said it was dangerous for the Ghanaian soldiers to carry out their peacekeeping operations without any equipment.

“We are concerned about the safety of our soldiers. We value their lives. We do not want them to be slaughtered.

We do not want to lose the lives of our soldiers. That is why we are sending the delegation,” he said.

South Sudan, officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in north eastern Africa.

It gained independence from The Sudan in 2011.

Source:  Daily Graphic

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