In a recent article titled “The ‘Big Man’ Who Nearly Pooped On Himself At Kaneshie in Accra | Should We Even Be Calling for this?,” I looked at the fact that toilet facilities are rear in Accra, especially in our busy areas—not knowing the problem is bigger than I thought. And in fact, Ghanaian is the second leader in open defecation in the entire of Africa.
Let’s clap for ourselves: we are racking in the awards to the extent that, we having an award for shitting outside too.
Apparently almost 20% of Ghana’s population do this—they pooped outside and this is 21st century.
It’s not just that, “the country has been performing abysmally with sanitation coverage of only 15 percent, making the practice of open defecation a key sanitation challenge because people do not have access to key basic facilities,” reports DailyGuide.
The newspaper adds that “the practice does not only cost the country $79million a year but also poses the greatest danger to human health and can have fatal consequences, particularly for the most vulnerable, including young children.
David Duncan, Chief Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Officer at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), disclosed this during a breakfast meeting for editors to give them an insight to the problematic issues of open defecation, its environmental and health impacts, particularly on growing children.”
Tomorrow, November 19 is this year’s World Toilet Day and that’s why this conversation is taking a front seat in Ghana—after that, we will do the usual, continue sh*tting outside and wait for the next cholrea outbreak to kill many.
As it stands, “five million Ghanaians do not have access to any toilet facility with 20 million not having access to basic improved sanitation” according to David Duncan.
Perhaps you want to know which country is 1st in the race of open defecation—It’s Sudan.
Considering Sudan’s unending problems, it’s a well deserving spot but when it comes to Ghana, why are we second?
Taking a decent sh*t is even a problem in Ghana! Woe unto you if you dare say our leaders, especially the President is incompetent for this and the many problems we face.