About 22% of the Ghanaian population practiced open defecation whiles only 21% had access to improved sanitation.
The remaining 8% depended on various forms of unapproved sanitation facilities such as bucket latrines.
Disclosing the state of affairs during the celebration of 2021 World’s Toilet Day in Kumasi, Hon Cecilia Abena Dapaah- Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources announced that “the story is changing and access to safely managed toilets in Ghana is improving though at a slow pace”.
She expatiated in her address that presently, “about 84% of the Ghanaian population have access to safely managed toilet. However, only 1/3 have access to flash toilets”.
Touching on the litany of health hazards that emanate from poor sanitation, the sector Minister urged the citizenry to place value on toilet and pay critical attention to issues of sanitation.
Hon Cecilia Abena Dapaah lamented over how people across the world value mobile phones more than the human excreta.
“People in the world have access to mobile phones than toilets”, she underlined.
According to her, “it presupposes that the world appears to value mobile phones more than toilet facilities”.
Speaking at the event, the Ashanti regional Minister Hon Simon Osei Mensah commended the ministry for putting up efforts to chance sanitation in the country.
Present at the occasion were representative from the World Bank Mr. Harold Esseku, Mrs. Esi Awuah( former Vice Chancellor, UENR),Mayor for the Kumasi Metropolis Hon Sam Pyne, religious leaders among others.
At the end of the event, eight brand new pick-up vehicles and motorcycles were presented by the ministry to eight sub-metros within the metropolis.
The motive was to equip the assemblies to embark on effective public sensitization on issues pertaining to sanitation.
Source; Ayisah Foster, Broadcastergh.com
