Access to toilet facilities huge challenge in Sunyani
The lack of toilet facilities in some homes, including some government bungalows in the Sunyani municipality in the Bono Region remains a major challenge while some occupants of the bungalows still use pans at their latrines.
These bungalows are located in the heart of Sunyani but have no proper toilet facilities, thereby compelling their occupants to use all sorts of means to attend to nature's call.
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The situation is posing a threat to the health of occupants of these bungalows and their neighbours.
Among those at risk are occupants of four blocks of junior staff quarters located at Parks and Gardens, near the Bank of Ghana’s magnificent building.
Each of the blocks has 22 chamber and hall apartments while separate bathrooms and toilet facilities have been constructed for each of them.
The Sunyani Municipal Assembly, which owns these facilities, has managed to construct toilet facilities for three of the blocks.
However, occupants in the fourth block have no standard toilet facility and they have been compelled to use pan latrines in their makeshift places of convenience.
For years, residents living in the quarters and the neighbourhood have had to endure the stench that emanates from the pans, especially when they become full and stay for days before they are removed for disposal.
According to the occupants, their plight had worsened lately as the man who was in charge of disposing the human excreta from the pans had stopped because of his poor health condition.
Now, the occupants have been compelled to remove the human excreta themselves from time to time and dig holes in which the waste is poured and covered at night.
Poor sanitation
Occupants who spoke to the Daily Graphic on condition of anonymity expressed concern about the poor sanitation situation and health implications.
According to the residents, they had complained to the assembly for years, yet nothing had been done about the situation, saying “it’s shameful to receive a visitor”.
They called on the Sunyani Municipal Assembly, who is their landlord, to urgently provide them with a befitting toilet facility like the other three blocks.
According to them, they were not living in the quarters for free, explaining that they paid GH¢50 a month as rent.
“The most painful aspect is that we pay the same amount as those having befitting toilet facilities,” they stated.
The residents said the assembly had also rejected their suggestion to construct their own toilets. “We have suggested to the assembly to put up our own toilets, but the assembly rejected the idea.
“The sad news is that we cook and eat here, while our children play around, which is not good for our health,” they stated, and appealed to the assembly to speed up processes to construct a befitting toilet facility for occupants.
State of public toilet facilities
The state of some public toilet facilities in the municipality is also nothing to write home about due to the poor management and pressure on them.
There is increased patronage of the few public places of convenience in some suburbs within Sunyani, as residents without toilet facilities in the homes queue up, especially in the mornings, to attend to the call of nature.
Though these old public toilet facilities are deplorable and poorly managed, residents have no alternative but to use them.
The foul scent that hits one as the facilities are approached alone makes one wonder how people who patronise these toilets and those who stay nearby manage to contain the pungent smell.
It is unbelievable that many households in areas such as Sunyani Zongo, New Town and Abetifi do not have toilets and residents have to rely on public toilets.
Visit
When the Daily Graphic visited the public toilets at the Chiraa Station, Abetifi near the Sunyani Urban Council School, Sunyani Zongo and New Town to assess the state of the facilities, it came out that patrons and residents living around were suffering.
At the various facilities, if the user preferred to use a piece of newsprint, he or she paid 30 pesewas but those who preferred to use a piece of toilet roll provided by the caretakers paid 50 pesewas.
Pressure on public toilets
The pressure on the Chiraa Station toilet facility is unimaginable as it is used by drivers, passengers, traders at both the station and the main Sunyani Market, as well as people from parts of the Zongo community.
A 44-year-old trader, Mr Daniel Kwame Danso, told the Daily Graphic that he wondered why those who operated the cesspit emptier had to wait till morning to do their work.
“Nobody can breathe here when the truck is around to carry the faecal matter. Why will they not perform such a function during the night when nobody is here?” he questioned.
Mr Danso also expressed concern about the poor management of the toilet facility and called on the managers to ensure that it was cleaned with chemicals to reduce the foul smell.
Another trader, Mrs Felicia Owusu, accused the caretakers of neglecting their responsibility of cleaning the facility, saying that in some cases, the faecal waste spilled over the cubicles, thereby making it very difficult for people to use them.
Bye-law
Mrs Owusu appealed to authorities of the Sunyani Municipal Assembly to enact a bye-law to make it compulsory for all landlords to construct toilet facilities in their houses to reduce the pressure on the few public toilets in the town.
“Landlords without toilet facilities in their house should be sanctioned. Until that is done, we will continue to witness these types of public toilet facilities in Sunyani,” she stated.
A caretaker at the Chiraa public toilet facility said that there was pressure on the facility because of few toilet facilities in households in the area.
“We are working hard to keep the facility clean. We clean the facility five times daily but due to the pressure, the place is always in a mess.”
Assembly’s response
The Sunyani Municipal Environmental Health Analyst (EHA), Mr Daniel Korkor, told the Daily Graphic that the assembly had awarded a contract for the construction of befitting toilet facilities for the occupants in the assembly’s bungalows.
He said the contractor had, however, called on the assembly to review the contract sum because of the increase in the cost of building materials.
Mr Korkor said the assembly had agreed to his appeal and was mobilising funds to finance the project.
He gave assurance that by the end of this year, work on the toilet facility would be completed as the assembly was working hard to raise money to fund the project.
“I am very sure that between November and December this year, the assembly will complete the project,” he assured.
He said the bungalows were constructed without befitting toilet facilities, which compelled the occupants to use pan latrines and that the assembly had decided to construct standard toilet facilities for each block.
On public toilets, Mr Korkor said the assembly was responsible for regulating the operations of both public and private toilets in the municipality.
He explained that all the toilet operators in the municipality had signed an agreement with the assembly on how to manage the facilities.
Mr Korkor said the assembly had used lawful means to sack operators who failed to obey the assembly’s rules and regulations such as failure to keep the facility clean.
“Recently, the assembly sent some operators to court to cancel their contracts because of poor management and disregard of rules and regulations governing the operations of the facilities,” he stated.
