Poor sanitation is a threat to national security - MP

Mr. Daniel Titus Glover, the Member of Parliament for Tema East, says the worsening sanitation situation in the country is a threat to national security.

He has therefore called for a realistic national response to the threat which has the ability to seriously undermine the health of the population and generations yet unborn.

Mr. Glover, who was addressing Tema Metropolitan Assembly’s (TMA) third Ordinary Meeting of its Fourth Session, asked for the re-introduction of sanitary inspectors popularly known as "saman saman" to bring some discipline into the system.

He deplored the indiscriminate disposal of solid and liquid waste in the Tema saying the practise had become a nuisance to the harbour and industrial metropolis.

The MP said some residents of Tema Manhean had turned their local cemetery into a "free range" area for defecation.

Nii Din, an Assembly Member and a member of the Tema Traditional Council, said:”In Newtown ( Tema Manhean) you see people dumping refuse into the sea, and defecating openly sometimes on the beach, bare floor and into polythene bags."

The GNAg sought to find out if the Assembly was enforcing its building regulations which make it an obligation for landlords to have toilet facilities in houses either for self occupation or rental but metropolitan officials declined to comment.