Oguaa Traditinal Council sets up task force to tackle Open Defecation Free
As part of efforts to make Cape Coast open defecation free (ODF), the Oguaa Traditional Council (OTC) is setting up a task force to effectively tackle the menace along the coastal stretch of the Metropolis.
The 58-member task force comprising of officials of Zoom Lion, Tourism Authority, Security Personnel, Fishers, Assembly Members, Council of Churches, and the media would be put into groups and assigned to designated coastal areas, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, Omanhene of OTC announced this at a stakeholders’ forum to dialogue on how they could support the efforts to end the shameless practice in the area.
It was attended by Security Personnel, Traditional and Religious Leaders, Chief fishermen, Assembly members, Environmental Officers, oficials of Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA) and the Media.
The team when inaugurated will be tasked with the responsibilities of patrolling and monitoring the coastal stretch as well as arrest and prosecute offenders who will dare defecate at the beaches.
Osabarima Kwesi Atta charged the would-be members to be very professional in the discharge of their duties and warned that members who misconduct themselves would equally be arrested and prosecuted to deter others.
Additionally, the Council together with the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly and partners would soon distribute 30 mobile toilets at vantage locations along the beach stretch to radically increase access to toilet facilities while it continued to erect flags of various colours at the beaches to indicate danger zones or restricted areas to protect tourists who visit national monuments.
The Oguaamanhene called for a united front and an innovative approach in dealing with poor sanitation practices that have engulfed many coastal communities, posing health hazards, adding that the fight against ODF and other insanitary conditions in the Metropolis ought to be relentless because unhygienic practices bordered on attitudes and behaviours which remain the most difficult thing to change in human beings.
He expressed the Council’s unwavering determination to scale-up advocacy and awareness raising activities to remind citizens of the need to own and use hygienic toilets in their homes.
Mr Idrisu Shani, the Environmental Health Officer of CCMA described the sanitation situation in the Metropolis as “disgusting” saying it needed collective efforts to remedy the situation.
He stressed the need to revive and involve the various “Asafo’ groups while vigorously enforcing sanitation regulations with keen support from Assembly members in ODF prone communities.
The Municipal Enviromental Officer identified political interferences and lack of attitudinal change as the bane to the fight against the illicit practice and called on all to support the team to achieve its objective.
Various stakeholders took turns to share sentiments about the shameful act and how it could be totally be eradicated.
Source: GNA