The lack of toilet facilities in the Salom-Madagber community in Ada West District has pushed the residents to engage in Open Defecation; Mr James Tsiani Gadugah, Assembly Member of Toflokpo Salom Electoral Area has stated.
He said the lack of toilet facilities was making living conditions unbearable in the community and noted that the District Assembly is yet to respond to an appeal to provide basic amenities in the community especially toilet facilities.
Mr Gadugah told the Ghana News Agency in Ada and called for prompt support from the government, philanthropists, and other stakeholders to help address the menace by providing them with modern toilet facilities to improve sanitation in the area.
Residents in Salom-Madagber, which is a farming community has for years resorted to attending nature’s call in the bush and open places.
Some of the residents also expressed concern about the practice admitting that it has health implications as when it rained it washed the faecal matter into the rivers they depend on for drinking and cooking.
The residents described the situation as a threat to their health, noting that the lack of toilets in the community has made their lives uncomfortable.
The GNA gathered that Salom-Madagber is amongst the numerous communities in the Ada West District that have not been privileged to have toilet facilities.
Mr Jado Tanihu, a resident said: “can you believe that in this 21st century, where technology has advanced, we still go to the bush to ease ourselves?
Mr Tanihu added that, as an aged person, the lack of toilet facilities was of great concern to him as he sometimes inconvenienced himself in the quest of rushing to the nearest bush.
Some residents observed that they feel ashamed when visitors request toilet facilities when they visit for funerals and other social activities as they have to direct them to the bush.
According to them in addition to the lack of toilet facilities, potable drinking water was also a great problem for them therefore appealed to the government and the district assembly to provide them with the needed facilities to prevent an outbreak of cholera in the area.
“The painful thing is that we are the very people who pollute the water not others and it is because we lack toilet facilities in the community,” the aggrieved residents said.
—GNA
