This follows a directive by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to implement the law as part of measures towards ending open defecation in the country.
Speaking to Citi News, the Chief Executive for the AMA, Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah said interventions by Government such as the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Sanitation Project, spearheaded by the World Bank provides subsidized toilet facilities to residents in the capital hence landlords with no toilets in their homes have no excuse for not adhering to the law.
“We now have large scale contractors that are working because hitherto we had only small-scale contractors but the request has increased leading to a high demand and for that matter large scale contractors are working on the project currently,” he said.
“Indeed, let me state that there are other institutions that are also supporting the assembly itself. The Ministry of Inner-city and Zongo development had also advocated for a lot of the households to have toilets. But beyond this, we have to say that, it is not every house that has a toilet and that has subscribed to it and this calls for action. We should be prosecuting those households that do not have places of convenience,” he added.
Open defecation continues to be a critical health challenge globally, affecting almost 1 billion people worldwide and contributing significantly to an estimated 842,000 people who die yearly from sanitation-related diseases.
It is a major environmental health problem facing many countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Ghana has been ranked second after Sudan in Africa for open defecation, with almost 5 million Ghanaians not having access to any toilet facility.
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