The Upper West Regional Inter-agency Coordinating Committee on Sanitation (RICCS) is taking stringent actions against the menace of open defecation in the region by enacting a regional sanitation bylaw.
The committee was constituted during its second quarter meeting held in Wa at the weekend to assess the region’s performance in sanitation and chart effective ways of curbing the menace of open defecation in the region.
Speaking at the meeting, Madam Freda Naatu, the Upper West Regional Director of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Department (EHSD), noted that though there were laws against ill sanitation practices in the country, the provisions were either not punitive enough or were too harsh to be applied to sanitation offenders.
Madam Naatu indicated that there was, therefore, the need for the Region to develop bylaws appropriate enough, but not inconsistent with the national laws, to help in the fight against Open Defecation. She explained that the conversations around sanitation bylaws were long overdue and the time to act was now.
Mr Menace Dennis Bayuo, the Upper West Regional Focal Person on WASH, said that although there was an improvement in the open defecation-free (ODF) status of the region, more efforts were needed to achieve a region-wide ODF.
He explained that there was a need for the community members to be triggered to see open defecation as a negative practice and had health implications to them which he said would urge them to construct latrines.
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