Two fined for poor sanitation at Faith Baptist Community School

A Madina Magistrate Court has imposed a GH¢720 fine on the owner and the headmistress of the primary and junior high departments of the Faith Baptist Community School for exposing human excrement on the school premises.

The two would serve a two-month prison term, if they defaulted in the payment of the fine.

The court also ordered the demolition of the toilet facility on or before October 11, 2014 under the supervision of the municipal assembly. 

This was after the Headmistress, Ms Kate Oduro, who was in court, pleaded guilty to exposing human excrement in the WC pots to flies on the school premises. The owner, Paste Mensah Oduro, was not in court.

The facts

Giving the facts of the matter, the prosecutor, Mr Lambert Kwara, said the Municipal Environmental Health Officer's attention was drawn to the insanitary conditions of the school by parents of the pupils and students.

"Following several complaints from aggrieved parents about the insanitary conditions on the school premises and the outbreak of cholera in the municipality, environmental health officers inspected the school on October 1, 2014 and found that the toilet facilities were defective," he told the court.

Exposed faecal matter

He added that there was human excrement in all the water closets, thereby making the pupils prone to the risk of cholera infection.

Mr Kwara said the accused persons had accumulated "anal cleansing materials in open containers, with flies hovering over them. Again, the toilets have inadequate lighting and ventilation, which is injurious to the health of the pupils." 

Mr Kwara also stated that the accused persons were served with a notice to abate the nuisances on their school premises "but they failed to comply."

He told the court, presided over by Mrs Margaret Mireku, that after re-inspection on October 3, 2014, it was realised that the two had failed to abate the nuisance and were therefore charged to appear before the court.