Convert pan latrines or quit quarters

Ho, Feb. 15, GNA - Occupants of government quarters in the Ho Municipal area still using pan latrines may have to vacate them by the close of the year if such toilets are not converted into more environmentally convenient ones.

Mr Samuel Klomegah, the Municipal Environmental Officer, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Monday in Ho. He said this measure was to stop the indiscriminate disposal of excreta from pan latrines by people privately engaged by occupants of the quarters.

"Excreta lifters clandestinely dispose their loads into brooks running through and around the municipality."

He said the Municipal Environmental Office had accordingly served notice on homes, including government agencies owning quarters with pan latrines, that it would not allow their continued use. Mr Klomegah also complained about the practice by some residents of Ho to dump unserviceable home electrical appliances, old mattresses, disused mortars and pestles into river pathways.

He said this acts were done with the hope that, the disposed items would be washed away, but without thought of where it was going. Mr Klomegah said the mid-2006 floods in Ho could have been avoided if these items did not obstruct flow of water in the drains. Regarding the general sanitation situation in the municipality, he said attitudes remained bad as people continued to dump refuse haphazardly and drop polythene wrappers and bags anywhere, even in the centre of town.

Mr Klomegah said efforts were being made to improve refuse collection from homes but expressed regret that many people were not disposed to paying little monies for such services.

He said the breakdown of the truck used for conveying the smaller refuse containers to final dumping sites was creating a major problem for the environmental office.