The Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku has appealed to the people of Upper West not to consider that the issue of open defecation as a governmental issue. He continued that even if it seen as a governmental issue, we must all appreciate the fact that individually, we are part of the government of the state and make personal investment in our homes and in our communities towards addressing issues of open-defecation.
Mr. Issahaku was speaking at the Upper West Regional launch of the 2018 edition of ODF league table in Wa.
The Deputy Regional Minister, Chinnia Issahaku observed that those who are privileged to build a house must as responsible citizens at least build a toilet to prevent the occupiers of the facility from defecating in the open.
He entreated District Assemblies and traditional authorities to give the ODF project a leg up for us to have open-defecation-free, noting that there is the need for all the various assemblies to pass by-laws on issues of sanitation so that we can regulate the activities of and behavior of our people.
Let me also appeal to our traditional rulers that you are the custodians of our land, our culture and our traditions.
And in our bit to fight open-defecation, there is the need to have massive support from our traditional rulers so that so the citizens can understand and appreciate the essence of this project Mr. Issahaku stressed.
The Regional M&E Coordinator for CLTS, at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Department, Alhassan Inusah Agambire presenting data on the ODF situation, said 23 thousand, 137 household latrines have so far been constructed in Upper West whilst 531 out of the one thousand, 167 communities in the region have achieved ODF status as at October this year.
Mr. Agambire announced that Daffiama-Bussie-Issa (DBI) is the fastest District moving towards ODF.
According to him, the District had no ODF as the end of 2015, but it now has 62 ODFs out of 72 communities entered, representing 86% success rate.
Nandon had a total of 85% ODF score to emerge as the first District in the Region followed by Wa West with 72%.
DBI took the third position with 66% ODF score whilst Wa Municipal garnered 19% to place eleventh out of the eleven MDAs in Upper West.
The Programmes Manager of Community Development Alliance, Sulemani Bipuah indicated that since the inception of CLTS in 2010, open defecation in Upper West has reduced from 71.3% to 49.2% as 2014.
The Acting Regional Environmental Health Officer, Madam Freda Naatu, observed that commitment from District Assemblies towards sanitation is woefully inadequate and entreated all parties to up their game towards the attainment of ODF in Upper West.
She said Ghanas performance in terms of sanitation is so appalling and Ghana is just a little better that Sierra Leone which is a war torn country.
The Agric Advisor of SNV, Rutilus Nasung commented on the 85% total ODF score for Nandom District in the 2018 Regional ODF League Table vis-à-vis the 95.5% ODF coverage for the district in terms of 84 out of the 88 communities being declared ODF.
He pledged that SNV will continue to support relevant institutions and communities to play their part to ensure that sustainable access to WASH services are provided in Nandom District and also scaled-up in the Upper West Region as a whole.
A citation was presented to the DCE for Nadowli-Kaleo, Madam Katherine Lankono for significantly raising the standard of sanitation in her District.
Story by Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
