Public toilets in Sekondi-Takoradi to be closed down over COVID 19

• Posted on March 18, 2020March 18, 2020
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Effective Wednesday 18 March, 2020, all toilet and bath house facilities in the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis, which are deemed to be unhygienic shall be closed down. This action which will be taken by the Environmental Health Unit of the assembly, comes in the wake of the COVID 19 scare that has hit the country.

Other facilities that might not be affected by the ‘closure’, will need to be fumigated within the month of March. The fumigation will be undertaken under the direct supervision of the Environmental Health Unit of the assembly.

This was made known at a press briefing today, by the Mayor of the metropolis, Anthony K.K Sam, on their preparedness to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

Threat of open defecation

The concerns expressed after news broke of this directive, is the fact that, people will resort to open defecation, as the very few public toilet facilities in the metro will be overwhelmed. Currently, the metro has a 65 percentage coverage for household toilets, the Environmental Health Unit reports.

It has over the past two years scored zero in the CDD’s district league table, in terms on its progress towards eradicating open defecation.

The assembly per a management decision has also ‘locked-down’ all permit applications by private individuals for the construction of public toilets.

Sources say, it is a stringent measure taken to encourage the construction of household toilets in the metro.

Author: Abraham Mensah