Open defecation a major challenge in Ho - Samuel Galley laments

Open defecation has become a major challenge in the Volta Region and Ho Municipal Assembly is no exception.

Notwithstanding Ho being the regional capital, there are identifiable places where people ranging from children to adults openly defecate even in broad daylight.

Speaking on the AM Show on Tosh FM in Ho, Mr. Samuel Galley, the Municipal Environmental Officer, lamented on the lack of toilet facilities in various houses and indicated that the only solution is to ensure that households own their own toilets.

He was quick to add that there is a grant from Netherlands through UNICEF under Poverty to Prosperity (P2P) project which is supposed to give loans to individuals to build their own facilities but lamented on the inability of households to access the funds because no financial institution in the Municipality and Ghana as whole has met the requirements to manage the funds which sits in the accounts of the Government of Ghana.

"There are two Metropolitan and one Municipal Assembly who are beneficiaries of this project namely Accra, Tamale and Ho respectively but none of us can access the funds", he revealed.

Responding to questions on whether his department has the wherewithal to deal with open defecation, he said they don’t have the necessary staff numbers (health officers) to combat the phenomenon.

According to him, "Ho Municipal Environmental Office should have over 300 workers but we are have only 34 and of this number 4 are incapacitated leaving only 27 health workers and this makes it difficult to arrest and arrange offenders before court".

He was however quick to add that his department is formulating a by-law to be presented to the General Assembly in January 2018 which will make it illegal for a household not to own a toilet facility.