Taha residents engaged in open defecation

Correspondence from Northern Region:

The residents of the Taha community, a suburb of Sagnarigu in the Northern Region, have been forced to engage in open defecation due to the lack of public toilets in the area.

According to them, the lack of a public toilet in the community has left them with no alternative than to resort to the

Read full articlebush for convenience.

Speaking exclusively to GhanaWeb, the residents said they fear for their lives as they do not know what might happen to one of them in the bush someday.

“When going into the bush to ease myself, I am always afraid because I do not know what would happen to me. There are snakes and other dangerous reptiles in the bush which can harm us," said Fuseina, a resident of Taha.

Another resident, Fatimata lamented that “We are always risking our lives by going into the bush to free ourselves, especially during a rainy season like this but we do not have an option. We are compelled to go in there knowing very well something can harm us."

A unit committee member of the community, Idi Abdul Latif Anamzoya, also bemoaned the situation adding that “some times you can go into the bush to free yourself and chance on an elderly person naked also freeing herself which is very bad."

Speaking to the Assemblyman of the area, Abdul Karim Yabdoo, he said he has tabled the issue with the Assembly but they appear not to be interested in getting them a public toilet, but rather stressing the need for each household to get their own private toilet.

Yabdoo said the economic level of the residents is very low for each household to afford their own private toilet and therefore called on the Assembly to consider their appeal and at least get them one public toilet.