By Emmanuel Gamson
Sekondi (W/R), May 10, GNA- Some Assembly Members in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis have expressed worry over the sorry state of some public toilet facilities within their respective areas.
They said the situation had compelled some residents without household toilets to resort to open defecation, which was classified as one of the highest sanitation nuances in the Metropolis.
They expressed these sentiments when the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) met key stakeholders, to update them on the progress of an “Operation Clean your surroundings” campaign being implemented by the Assembly.
The campaign, which was launched in November last year, is a component of a three-year European Union (EU)-funded Twin-Cities in Sustainable Partnership Project (TCSPP) being implemented by the STMA, Palermo Municipality in Italy and other partners.
It was to ensure enforcement of the Assembly’s environmental sanitation by-laws and encourage citizens to take responsibility for their actions towards a clean environment.
It also sought to raise awareness of cleanliness, hygiene, waste management, and environmental preservation through media campaigns and the deployment of a task force to ensure residents complied with sanitation by-laws.
As part of the campaign’s implementation modalities, a task force undertakes unannounced visits to households, eateries, hospitality facilities, markets, and transport terminals among other places, to inspect the state of sanitation and hygiene within these areas.
The task force, through its unannounced visits and facilities inspection, had arrested and fined 10 persons GHC400 each for openly defecating at New Takoradi, Takoradi, Bakano, Bakaekyir, and Enam Ase communities.
However, in responding to the issue, the Assembly Members noted that some public toilet facilities were in dilapidated states and made it inconvenient for residents to use.
Madam Ama Kareen, the Assembly Member for Harbour and Railways Electoral Area, appealed to the authorities to take steps to rehabilitate deplorable public facilities to help eradicate the open defecation menace within the Metropolis.
Meanwhile, Mr John Laste, the STMA Public Relations Officer (PRO), who updated participants on the state of the campaign, said the initiative had brought improvements in the general sanitary condition within the Metropolis.
He said most of the residents had shown a great understanding of sanitation issues, and thus were helping to address the ill practices on environmental sanitation within the Metropolis.
“In fact, through the campaign, open defecation, especially along the coastal areas is reducing because some communities where we used to arrest people for open defecation have now made improvements when our task force visited those areas,” he stated.
Mr Laste, also the Communication and Visibility Officer for TCSPP, acknowledged that despite the improvements, open defecation was still a challenge “because the feedback we are getting from the people is that most of the public toilet facilities are not in good shape in terms of management.”
He said the Assembly would undertake a special exercise to deal with operators of such facilities to keep their environment clean and hygienic to ensure an end to open defecation.
GNA