By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), Sept. 12, GNA – The Upper West Regional Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee on Sanitation (RICCS) is taking stringent measures against the menace of Open Defecation (OD) in the region with a renewed commitment to facilitate the enactment and gazetting of sanitation by-laws.
The by-laws would help address the sanitation needs of the Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the region.
As part of the efforts, the committee, which comprised state and private sector actors and advocates of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), had established a 5-member ad-hoc committee to draft the bylaw on sanitation to be adopted for enforcement by all MMDAs in a bit to consolidate its fight against OD.
The ad-hoc committee was constituted during the second quarter meeting of RICCS held in Wa to assess the region’s performance in the sanitation sector and chart effective ways of curbing the menace of OD in the region.
Speaking at the meeting, Madam Freda Naatu, the Upper West Regional Director of the Environmental Health, and Sanitation Department (EHSD), noted that though there were laws against ill sanitation practices in the country, the provisions were either not punitive enough or were too harsh to be applied on sanitation offenders.
She said the sanitation-related provisions in the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), for instance, were not punitive enough.
Madam Naatu indicated that there was, therefore, the need for the region to develop a model by-law appropriate, but consistent with the national laws, to help in the fight against OD through effective prosecution by trained district sanitation prosecutors.
She explained that the conversations around sanitation by-laws were long overdue and the time to act was now.
Mr Dennis Menance Bayuo, the Upper West Regional Focal Person on WASH, said though there was improvement in the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status of the region more efforts were needed to achieve a region-wide ODF.
He explained that there was a need for the community to be triggered to see OD as a negative practice, which had health implications so that they would construct latrines.
“One thing that is making our work difficult is that it’s like people don’t even know what they are doing is bad.
Somebody drinks water and just throws the rubber away. Somebody will want to defecate and think that going to the toilet is far,” he lamented while sharing his experiences from community engagements on WASH.
Mr Beyuo believed that when communities were effectively facilitated to be aware of the danger, they would face by doing OD and the actions they could take, they would change.
The Regional WASH Focal Person also stressed the need for the sanitation officers to reside in the area councils where they were posted to ensure their community presence, proximity to the people and effectiveness of their operations.
When this report was filled, 841 out of 1,167 communities in the Upper West Region had attained ODF status.
The ODF protocol mandated MMDAs to sustain the ODF achievements and take the ODF communities to safer level known as the “sanitised ODF.”
Meanwhile, Goal Six of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which focused on clean water and sanitation, sought to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by 2030.
Target 6.2 of the Global Goals required that: “By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.”
This target was measured by the proportion of the population using safely managed sanitation services and the proportion of the population with a handwashing facility with soap and water available at home.
It was, thus, incumbent on all people in Ghana, state and private sector actors and development partners to put hands on deck to ensure access to clean and safely managed sanitation services including toilet and handwashing facility by all by 2030.
Meanwhile, Mr Salifu Issifu Kanton, the Executive Director of the Community Development Alliance (CDA), said aside from enacting sanitation by-laws to ensure compliance with the construction and use of toilet facilities by all people, the government should establish a sanitation safety net for the vulnerable households.
He explained that the sanitation safety net should target poor households that genuinely could not construct toilet facilities by extending financial support to those households to construct resilient latrines.
“The government should look for innovative approaches where it can leverage its economic power to support poor households to own toilets,” Mr Kanton explained.
GNA