Paramount Chief calls for open defecation-free country

The Paramount Chief of the Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, has expressed displeasure at the practice of open defecation and called for immediate action to end it.

“If we fail to take bold actions towards ending open defecation, the result is that we will have a polluted environment in which diseases spread fast,” he said.

Nana Nketsia raised the concern at a programme to present certificates to children, corporate bodies, district assemblies, individuals and traditional rulers who have made contributions towards the fight to make Ghana Open Defecation Free (ODF).

The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local government and Rural Development and some development partners, organised the programme.

Failing next generation

Nana Nketsia said anything short of ending open defecation now would be failing the country and the generations to come would not be proud of the current generation.

On the association of rural settings and low education to filth, he said poverty, having low education or living in the rural areas should not translate into people engaging in open defecation, “unless there is something wrong with the social or individual psychology. Nobody teaches you hygiene, it is plain common sense,” he stated.

Place of convenience

The paramount chief pointed out that dealing with open defecation required more than water and sanitation professionals, adding that all had a role to play in ending the practice.

He stressed the need for every household in the country to get a place of convenience and also for the country to invest in building some and ensuring that they were used.

Practice endemic

The UNICEF Representative in Ghana, Ms Anne-Claire Dufay, stated that 22 per cent of people in the country still practised open defecation, adding that, if the country wanted to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 6.2, then it needed to get to zero per cent, which required immediate action.

She commended The Netherlands Embassy in Ghana, Global Affairs Canada and the World Bank for supporting the campaign.

Sanitation league table

In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Ms Cecilia Dapaah, announced that a national league table on sanitation would soon be introduced in some districts and constituencies of the country.

The first edition is expected to be launched next year to herald the implementation of the action on ODF Ghana.

For her part, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, in a speech read on her behalf, asked metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to enact, gazette and enforce their sanitation bye-laws without fear or favour to achieve the SDG target on sanitation.

She entreated the MMDAs to make use of the assembly sub-structures in championing the ODF agenda and also for assembly members to ensure that their electoral areas attained ODF status.

Hajia Mahama appealed to other stakeholders, including traditional authorities, private organisations, the media, civil society organisations and individuals to get on board to address the menace of open defecation that had bedevilled some communities.

Some video messages from notable personalities on the open defecation menace were played at the function.