Demystify discussions around toilet – Minister
Ghana on This year’s World Toilet Day has been commemorated with a call on stakeholders to help demystify discussions around toilet.
It was on the theme: “Accelerating change through strategic partnership: Every contribution counts” and was climaxed with a durbar at Mpoase in the Ablekuma West Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.
World Toilet Day is commemorated annually across the globe on November 19 to drum home the importance of toilet facilities and the need to end open defecation in the world.
Speaking at the durbar, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Dr Freda Akosua Prempeh, said the need to demystify discussions around toilet had become imperative now than ever, if the country was to achieve its goal of Open Defecation Free (ODF) society.
She said breaking the myth surrounding toilets would not only create room for people to talk about something that was natural and unavoidable, but would also help people to appreciate the need to own their own toilet facilities.
Dr Prempeh said the World Toilet Day was to among other things break the taboo around toilets and to raise awareness on the daily struggles of the over 2.5 billion people around the world in accessing basic services like toilet facilities.
She said the government was working to improve sanitation with the provision of household toilets as a key component of everything it was.
The minister explained that even though more than 40,000 household toilets had been provided under the GAMA project, much more remained to be done.
She said for the country to win the fight against Open Defecation (OD) all stakeholders, including the citizenry must adopt a change in attitude.
On his part, the Municipal Chief Executive of the Ablekuma West Municipal Assembly, Mr George Cyril Bray, said it was important to emphasise that when people had better access to sanitation, they are healthier and could work more productively and contribute more to society.
He said investing in sanitation and hygiene were necessary foundation for a healthy and productive population, stressing that the economic benefits far outweighed the cost.
Mr Bray said it was unfortunate that many homes in his municipality and for that matter the Greater Accra Region did not have household toilet facilities despite the numerous interventions available.
He said there was, therefore, the need to address these challenges by finding strategic ways of promoting ownership of household toilets.
The MCE said the theme for this year’s celebration perfectly fit the commemoration, adding that “Several strides had been made by the government in the provision of home-owned toilets through the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project.”
He said a total of 19,100 households now owned household toilet facilities with institutional toilets provided for a number of schools in the municipality.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
