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Philanthropist provides GH¢ 1.3m sanitary facilities to Sekyedumase communities

 DM philanthro­pist Organisa­tion LBG has provided the Sekyedumase community in the Ejura-Sekyedumase Munici­pality of the Ashanti Region with two ultra-modern toilet facilities at the cost of GH¢ 1.3 million to improve sanitation in the area, par­ticularly open defecation, a major challenge for the community.

The two facilities, located at Appiaso and Market Square both in Sekyedumase, have a 14-seater water closet toilets, 10 bathrooms and changing rooms each.

In a speech read on his behalf at the inauguration on Tuesday, the founder and chairman of DM Philanthropist Organisation LBG, Mr Douglas Mensah, said the facil­ities were constructed to deal with the problem of open defecation and also bring relief to the com­munity in terms of a decent place of convenience where ‘nature’s call’ can be obeyed.

“This project came into being after a thorough assessment of the needs of the town and our com­mitment and interest to the subject of sanitation,” Mr Mensah said.

The research team upon findings realised the need for a suitable place of convenience for the town to replace existing dilapidated ones which posed a major health problem for the people, hence our choice for the theme – “Improving sanitation in rural communities, the need to provide adequate toilet facilities,” he added.

Mr Mensah said a joint effort would be needed to curb and com­bat the bad practice of people who still defecate into plastic bags and pollute the environment by indis­criminately disposing them off.

According to him, statistics from the World Sanitation Programme, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and WaterAid indicate that 2.4 billion people or about one-third of the world’s population lack access to improved sanitation, that is, facilities that hygienically separate human excreta from hu­man contact and one billion people still practiced open defecation.

Open Defecation, according to the WHO, was a leading cause of diarrhoea death which stands at around 6,000 a day mostly young children.

For his part, the Adontehene of Sekyedu­mase, Nana Osei Acheampong I, said a task force had been set up to deal with people who would openly defecate as the non-govern­mental organisation had provided them with toilet facilities.

He commended the Founder and Chairman of DM Philanthro­pist Organisation LBG for his kind gesture and urged others to emulate him.

Mr Mensah was represented at the occasion by the Chief Execu­tive Officer (CEO) of the Organ­isaiton, Reverend Stephen Kwasi Badu.

FROM TIMES REPORTER, SEKYEDUMASE

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