By Razak Baba
Ghana has joined the global community to commemorate the 2022 World Toilet Day at Ejisu Municipality in Ashanti region.
The World Toilet Day is observed every year on November 19, by all Member countries of the United Nations.
The purpose of this International Day of action is to among other things break the taboo around toilets and to raise global awareness on the daily struggle of a staggering 2.5 billion people around the world who struggle in accessing a basic service like toilet.
World Toilet Day is an official United Nations international observance day on November 19, to inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis.
Worldwide, 4.2 billion people live without “safely managed sanitation” and around 673 million people practice open defecation. Over the past years, World Toilet Day has become an important platform to raise awareness, inspire advocacy, and demand action from our leadership at all levels.
The theme for this year’s commemoration is “Sanitation and Groundwater” with the campaign tag “Making the Invisible Visible”. This theme was chosen to highlight on the indispensable relationship between sanitation and groundwater sources.
The practice of open defecation has in no small way contributed to this state of affairs.
The World Toilet Day Mini Community Durbar at Ejisu attracted scores of dignitaries, including officials from the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, Ghana Water Company Limited, the Community Water and Sanitation Agency, and chiefs and people of Ejisu Traditional Council in the Ashanti Region.
In a welcome address, the Ejisu Municipal Chief Executive, Samuel Oduro Frimpong, commended the ministry for numerous toilet facilities across the municipality, but urged the ministry to provide them with additional vehicles to ensure effective supervision of the projects in the municipality.
The Donor Partners Lead, World Bank GKMA Project, Ing. Harold Aseku, said open defecation is a global crisis, hence the need for all stakeholders to appeal to all the key stakeholders to use their influence in society to sensitise their followers, congregations, and subjects, respectively, to stop open defecation and build their own toilets.
The Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Issahaku Chinnia Amidu, urged various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to enforce their bye-laws on the construction of toilets in private and public buildings. He said the government is committed to its flagship “Toilet for All” Programme in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders and admonishes households to stop open defecation and build their own toilets.
The Greater Kumasi is expected to benefit 30 thousand household toilets by the year 2024, but has so far built five thousand toilets within the Greater Kumasi.
