Accra, Oct. 24, GNA – The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) on March 24, 2011 directed landlords in the Metropolis to construct appropriate toilet facilities in their houses.
The Assembly warned that from September 2011 it would start arresting those who would have flouted the order.
‘With effect from September 2011, any landlord who refuses to provide toilet facilities for his or her tenants would be arrested and prosecuted,’ said Dr Simpson Boateng, Metro Director of Public Health at the time.
Dr Simpson, who was addressing the press on measures adopted by the Assembly to curb the cholera outbreak, said about 90 per cent of households in the Metropolis lacked toilet facilities thereby making people to defecate at unapproved places and increasing the rate of cholera outbreak in the city.
At that time, it was said that about 3,000 cases and more than 30 deaths had been recorded in Accra alone since the cholera outbreak in the country in September 2010.
In addition, the Ghana Health Service said the death toll in the cholera outbreak throughout the country was about 64 as a result of poor sanitation and the consumption of contaminated foods and water.
In the wake of this the AMA set up a task force in all its 11 sub- metros to arrest people who cooked and sold food to the public under unhygienic conditions.
People were arrested and about 1,000 offenders were prosecuted at a court that was established for that purpose at Ablekuma Central, La, Abeka and Osu.
Offenders of the laws were made to pay a fine of GH¢120 or be imprisoned for three months or both and Mr Twumasi Ankrah, the AMA Solicitor at the time appealed to residents in the Metropolis to co-operate with the Assembly in the implementation of its new bye-laws which were mainly aimed at reducing commercial activities on the streets of Accra.
The truth is that all these would not have been necessary if the city bye- laws had not been flouted or the authorities had made them work.
People just eased themselves anyhow and anywhere and the fecal materials in the open contributed to the poor sanitation and the outbreak of diseases.
However, after five years of this laudable idea, very little has been accomplished as far as the directive on household toilets is concerned.
For example Edmund Lomo, the Assembly Member for the Kwashieman Electoral Area says the authorities in the community are now going to tap into a national project that would ensure that every household within his jurisdiction secured a toilet facility.
He said the initiative was part of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project (GAMA-SWP).
‘The GAMA-SWP is a collaborative programme between the government…and the World Bank, which seeks to increase access to improved sanitation, water supply and strengthen management of environmental sanitation.
Mr Lomo said ‘the initiative will help promote and ensure a clean environment and improve sanitation’.
It would also help to save money while making provision for ultra-modern toilet facilities of good quality, he observed.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency(GNA), the Assembly Member explained that the World Bank and the government had paid part of the expenses leaving landlords with just a little a to pay.
He said the facility would be constructed within a month after payments had been made at the district office of the AMA.
He said this was to encourage a lot of people to enroll on the project.
He therefore charged landlords and their tenants to chance on the opportunity to secure the facility in their various homes.
He petitioned the Environmental Health Division under the AMA to collaborate with Assembly Members to ensure compliance with the AMA’s directive especially to enforce the laws on house owners making provision for places of convenience when putting up buildings.
He added that anyone who flouted the rule should be sanctioned.
The Assembly Member of the Osu Ringway Electoral Area on his part bemoaned the consistent use of the cemetery by residents to answer nature’s call due to lack of toilet facilities in some households.
Erasmus Odartey Lamptey, the Assembly Member, said although residents had access to public latrines, they rather used the cemetery as toilet.
Mr Lamptey said the Assembly was working toward addressing the problem though he did not elaborate the measures.
Ms Esther Ofori, a resident of Osu Ringway was unhappy since her landlord had not provided a toilet facility in her house, compelling her to use a gutter when nature called.
‘What I dislike about the whole thing is that both men and women, including children use the same place which is an eye saw’.
Ms Ofori therefore appealed to Rent Control and the AMA to intensify efforts in ensuring that every household in the area had access to toilets facilities before renting the houses.
Emmanuel Offei, also a resident said, he visited the public toilet (KVIP) in the area due to lack of toilet facility in his house.
He said though the facility was better than defecating openly.
‘Sometimes I encounter a long queue in the mornings when visiting the KVIP which most at times gets me late for work.’
He therefore called on the city authorities as well as the government to enforce the laws on landlord to provide toilets in their homes.
”In this area, most of the rented households do not have access to latrine, making people to defecate in open places and cause diseases,” said Benjamin Mensah, a resident.
Mr Mensah said although he had a toilet at home, government needed to compel landlords in the community to provide same in their homes to address the challenges that came with open defecation.
Naa Adjetey, said she visited a nearby bush to ease herself, exposing her to a lot of danger because there was no toilet at home, adding her voice to other residents who expressed their dissatisfaction about the lack of toilets in some households.
These sentiments expressed are not the best for the comfort of the Accra city dwellers, let alone Ghanaians as a whole and therefore those entrusted to supervise the running of affairs should sit up and work to bring comfort to every home.
There should also be an intensified education on the GAMA-SWP project which is far more beneficial to landlords to take advantage and make the little payments that would help them secure the toilet facilities which they would have fully paid for to make Accra a better place to live.
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