Ejisu-Besease (Ash), June 08, GNA – The Ejisu Municipal Assembly has stepped up efforts at intensifying community education on the need for citizens to own household latrines.
Mr Ali Sulemana, Coordinator of the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA) Sanitation and Water Project at the Assembly, said plans were underway to include all households without toilets in the municipality in the project.
He said the assembly was envisaging that by the end of the project in December 2024, the municipality would have constructed more than 2,000 household latrines.
He was speaking to the media after educating community members at Ejisu-Manhyia, Ejisu-Besease and Ejisu-Jamasi on the need to own toilets in their homes.
Mr Sulemana said communities including Ejisu-Besease had been identified as an open-defecation prone area, and that efforts were being made to admonish community members to desist from such acts.
The project was about 70 per cent subsidised by the World Bank, through the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources.
The beneficiaries would only have to pay GH₵1,200.00 for a complete toilet and GH₵700.00 for bio-digester if the structure was already in place.
About 30,000 household toilets are expected to be constructed under the project in eight Municipalities including Kumasi Metro, Asokwa, Kwadaso, Suame, Asokore-Mampong, Old Tafo, Ejisu and Oforikrom.
Mr Sulemana said the project, which was prioritising low-income communities, had constructed a total of 2,100 household toilets in the eight municipalities already.
He said Ejisu had constructed 605 latrines, adding that, although they were leading in the construction of the facilities, more education ought to be given to the people to ensure cleanliness in the communities.
Madam Helena Mensah, Presiding Member of the Ejisu Municipal Assembly, said the Assembly would soon commence prosecuting households without toilet facilities.
She said this had become necessary due to the rise in open defecation in some communities within the municipality, adding that, the menace posed serious health threat to the country, engendering the lives and productivity of the people.
Nana Acheampong Akwasi III, Chief of Ejisu-Besease pledged to lead the campaign for owning toilets in every household in the area.
GNA