Residents
of Mepe in the North Tongu District of the Volta region, Today can
report, are planning to storm the seat of government, Flagstaff House,
on Thursday, September 17, 2015 to present a petition to President John
Dramani Mahama over what they describe as the “failure of the North
Tongu District Assembly to manage sanitary and hygiene conditions of the
people in the area.”
The youth in Mepe Traditional Area have
told this paper that the move has become necessary because they feel
they should carry their problem directly to President John Dramani
Mahama since that is the only way to change the status quo in their
community as far as sanitation was concerned.
The youth bemoaned
the failure of the North Tongu District Assembly headed by Madam Delphi
Fafa Agbayi to allocate funds for the dislodging of faecal matter and
the renovation of the eleven existing public toilet facilities in Mepe
township.
They claimed the facilities were completely filled-up to their capacities and needed urgent attention.
The
youth indicated that they were also unhappy at the decision by the
District Chief Executive (DCE), District Coordinating Director and
District Finance Officer to release GHC1000.00 (One Thousand Ghana
Cedis) from the North Tongu MP’s Common Fund on Tuesday, July 28, 2015
to Mepe Dzagbaku Development Committee to execute its existing private
toilet facility project.
The private toilet facility, they averred, was “not bringing any revenue to the Assembly and Mepe Traditional Area as a whole.”
The
youth provided a documentary proof of a cheque of GHC1000.00 dated July
28, 2015 which was to be cashed at the National Investment Bank (NIB),
Ho branch, and also the MP’s Common Fund Disbursement Request Form which
certified that the disbursement request was for the execution of the
above-mentioned project which was dully approved in the budget of North
Tongu District Assembly to the Dzagbaku Development Committee to support
their claims.
The payment of the money to Dzagbaku Development
Committee to execute its existing private “commercially viable toilet
facility project,” the youth told Today, has become a subject of
agitation between the organised youth groups in Mepe and the Assembly,
as the youth stressed that the action of the Assembly was in violation
of the Local Government Act 462.
They contended that the Assembly
in 2014 promised the chiefs and people of Mepe Traditional Area to
allocate funds from the North Tongu MP’s Common Fund to construct or
renovate existing toilet facilities in Mepe and its adjoining
communities in the district which were in horrible state, but the
Assembly could not keep to that promise.
Aside from the numerous
petitions and letters written to the Assembly and copied to the Ministry
of Local Government and Rural Development, Ministry of Health and Ghana
Health Service (GHS) over the deplorable state of the eleven existing
public toilet facilities in Mepe, the gestures, hey claimed, seemed to
have fallen on death ears of the state sanitation regulatory agencies to
do the right thing.
The residents asserted that they now find
themselves in crisis as it has been “too unbearable to contain the
stench emanating from various public toilets in Mepe township.”
That
worrying development, the youth noted, has compelled the organised
youth groups and residents to storm the Flagstaff House to present a
petition to President Dramani Mahama for help to save the eleven
existing public toilet facilities in the community which are nearing
collapse.
What even annoys them was the media spin the officials
of the North Tongu District Assembly and NDC government spokespersons
put on the issue to paint a different picture to the public to redeem
government’s image.
Put up in 1996 by former President, Flt. Lt.
Jerry John Rawlings administration, the youth lamented that the
facilities which served as places of convenience for the increasing
population of the Volta regional town have not seen any rehabilitation
works.
Consequently, the youth said the facilities have developed
deep cracks raising fears among the residents about the possible
collapse of the toilet facilities.
But despite that fear, the
youth pointed out that, the residents were still making use of the
facilities due to the non-availability of places to attend to nature’s
call.
Today gathered that now those who fear the looming danger
have however resorted to defecating on the floors of the facilities
deterring others from using them.
The alarming situation, they
pointed out, attests to the fact that, poor sanitation and waste
management remained the most challenging issue facing residents of North
Tongu constituency.
The youth also observed that, the nature of
the toilet facilities accounted for the increasing number of open
defecation cases in the area as people who were dissatisfied with the
unhygienic state of the public toilets now go to beaches and bushes to
ease themselves.
The youth of Mepe noted that, that irresponsible
act was not only limited to children, but also adults were equally
engaging in open defecation, citing “Battor, Aveyime, Dorfor, Volo
Kpordoe, Fordzoku, Torgorme, Juapong, Dodikope,Dadome-Fakpoe, Workpor,
Dorfor-Adidome, Abuvienu,Aglobakpo and Volor as places had hit be the
practice o open defection.”
At Mepe, Battor and Aveyime in broad
daylight, Today observed that residents publicly defecated in bushes
because the public toilets were completely filled-up to their
capacities.
Many of the homes, Today visited recently in the
above-mentioned areas, showed that either they did not have toilets, or
used the banned pan latrines.
Today in collaboration with some
key stakeholders conducted a survey in some communities in the district,
which revealed that most of the homes in the North Tongu District did
not have toilets and bathroom facilities, thus compelling residents to
use certain public places such as the beaches, public commentaries,
gutters, parks and other open spaces as places of convenience and
bathrooms.
The study further revealed that such situations were
often found in sprawling poor communities, which have dense populations
and are not well planned.
Some people Today interviewed blamed
landlords for converting toilets and washrooms into rooms for rental,
and North Tongu District Assembly for not being proactive enough to hold
homes and shop owners without toilets accountable.
Although the
central government made an effort to build a number of toilets in some
communities in the district, the fact still remained that if people were
not compelled to build toilet facilities in their homes, and landlords
were not held responsible for the absence of such facilities, then
people would continue to soil the environment.
Today’s findings
revealed that the state-owned schools including Mepe Presbyterian
Primary, District Authority (DA) JHS, Mepe RC Primary and JHS lacked
essential amenities that could have helped in enhancing teaching and
learning in the area.
This paper gathered that many of these
schools were built over two decades ago under the erstwhile Jerry John
Rawlings administration and have since not seen any major facelift.
During the visit, it was also discovered that whilst some of the public schools had toilets, they lacked water systems.
Some students and teaching staff told this reporter that the development had compelled them to defecate in the bushes.
In
an interview with Today, some chiefs and religious leaders in Mepe
pointed accusing fingers at the authorities of the North Tongu District
Assembly for the poor condition of toilets in the area.
According
to them, unsanitary conditions, typical of many public school toilets
in the area, send the wrong message to students about the measures put
in place by state officials and North Tongu District Assembly to improve
sanitation and hygiene conditions of the people in the area.
They
urged President Mahama-led administration to develop innovative
measures to salvage the situation now before it gets out of hands since
innocent lives were at risk of suffering from infectious diseases as a
result of negligence and recklessness of the authorities of the
Assembly.
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