Drobonso residents blame MP for rampant open defecation

Some residents of Drobonso in the Sekyere Afram Plains District of the Ashanti Region have lamented the slow pace of development in the area.

Although they said the communities lack basic amenities like water in most parts of the district, residents pointed to poor sanitation as one of the major challenges facing the people.

They have, therefore, blamed their Member of Parliament (MP), Mr. Alexander Adomako Mensah, for the poor sanitation in the town.

Open defecation

Open defecation has become rampant in the capital of the district, Drobonso, where residents expect to have decent toilet facilities some ten years after they attained district status.

Speaking to XYZ reporter Piesie Okrah, residents expressed concern over the failure on the part of their MP and District Chief Executive (DCE), Suleman Hamidu to provide some basic amenities.

At the Drobonso market, some market women noted that their only public toilet facility in the area was dilapidated and needed to be collapsed to save children from falling into the open pits.

“Brother, we need a new toilet facility here because the existing one is collapsing and we can’t continue to use it.

"Because it is full and has serious cracks that are life-threatening, we ease ourselves in the bush. I, for instance, ease myself in the bush; Imagine what will happen to me if I am bitten by a snake,” one woman said.

Another middle-aged woman who was selling vegetables at a small market located about 50 metres from the dilapidated toilet facility complained about the stench emanating from the facility that has been abandoned for years.

“We are suffering here because as we sell here, we’ve had to endure that smell every day and it seems we don’t have a leader to help us,” she said.

Asked if they have drawn the attention of their Assembly member, District Chief Executive and MP to the life-threatening situation, another woman retorted “they know this problem because anytime they come here they see it.”

The toilet facility has several cracks on its wall and full is some 50 metres away from the palace of the chief of Drobonso and flanked by a four-bedroom house where a man who gave his name as Mantse reside with his family.

The family has to deal with houseflies who frequent the toilet facility and the house as the unbearable stench sits with them in the house.

“We are told that communicable diseases are common but when we are about to eat or drink, houseflies would just be around us,” he lamented.

A tenant of the house who did not give her name out said “we are really suffering here. The stench is just too much meanwhile, that’s just the Chief’s Palace over there yet we are forced to deal with this bad situation.”

Mantse said the MP for the area has neglected them and they are not surprised that they are dealing with sanitation challenges.

“We don’t see him when he comes to this place. We have complained for years but this is our situation,” he added.

Relief

The residents also pointed to a toilet facility near the broken-down facility which was constructed by MIRO Forestry Ghana Limited, a multinational wood processing company in the area, which has also been abandoned due to lack of a mechanised borehole.

“When the borehole is fixed, we can use the new toilet facility which was gifted us by MIRO and residents will not have to defecate in the bush,” a young man suggested.

Nana Agyen, an opinion leader and a member of the Drobonso royal family believes the DCE, Hamidu Sulemana and the MP, Adomako Mensah has neglected them.

“They have seen how bad the toilet has become yet when the MP comes to the palace and sees it, he looks on as if nothing is wrong. I believe the is not paying attention to our issues because he is not from this town,” he argued.

Meanwhile, the Sekyere Afram Plains District Office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has stated in its recent report that the toilet facility ought to be collapsed.

When Piesie Okrah reached out to the DCE, Mr Sulemana on phone, he admitted the toilet facility had become a death trap and urgent steps were being taken to collapse it.

“I am engaging MIRO to get us a water source at the new toilet facility for the people to use it very soon,” he assured.