Bongo chief to invoke curses on those who engage in open defecation

In a bid to control people’s penchant to defecate openly in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region, the Paramount Chief of the Bongo Traditional Area, Naba Baba Salifu Aleemyarum has vowed to mobilize all traditional rulers in his jurisdiction to offer sacrifices to the gods of the land to invoke curses on all those who continue to attend to nature's call “indiscriminately”.

According to him, the result of such curses will ensure that “as soon as anybody tries to defecate in the open, his anus will gush out” to serve as a deterrent to others and check the practice.

Naba Aleemyarum's warning came during a presentation ceremony organized by WaterAid Ghana to reward nine communities in the Bongo district that have achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF) status.

The Paramount chief who chaired the ceremony also pointed out that the district has a long way to go in ensuring that all the 168 communities in the Bongo district achieved the ODF status by the end of 2019.

Naba Aleemyarum further stressed that he will “ensure that all the Tindaanas and chiefs in his area come together to offer special sacrifices to the gods of the land so that the target is achieved; the area has 42 divisional and sub-divisional chiefs who will all be involved in this fight”.

Legal

The Paramount Chief further intimated that by the end of next month, all the Chiefs in the district will sign a resolution which will be given to the Bongo District Chief Executive as traditional rulers’ commitment towards the fight against open defecation.

He equally advised the assembly members to also pass a similar resolution after which the two resolutions will be sent to the court so that those who engage in open defecation are heavily punished by the law courts.

“I know although we have set the end of this year as a target to eliminate open defecation, I know there will be some obstacles but we will come out with effective strategies to overcome them," Naba Aleemyarum emphasized.