40 'fined' landlords build household toilets

Forty (40) out of Forty-Three (43) landlords who were convicted to various fines for flouting sanitation laws in the Sissala East District of the Upper West region have constructed household toilets as one of the conditions for their mild punishment.

The landlords were found to have failed to put up household toilets forcing their tenants to ease themselves in the open despite warnings by Sissala East District Environmental Health Director.

Mr. Ebenezer Tankuur told Tumu-based Radford Fm that all 43 were hauled before a court for failure to build household latrines last year (2016) but 40 have since complied after their fines with the remainder having their structures at various levels of completion.

“The others haven’t completed constructing theirs though but they have attempted building”, he revealed

Mr Ebenezer however added, his unit will intensify monitoring to ensure all landlords in Tumu construct latrines as the district fights to eliminate open defecation.

Meanwhile, a community led water sanitation programme is being rolled out to make sure some communities in the Sissala East District achieve the open defecation free target.

Kapong Jan and Wahubu communities have benefited from the programme where almost every household now has its own latrine.

“ Banu is the next community earmarked for open defecation free” Mr. Ebenezer Tankuur mentioned.

The Sissala East has struggled to control open defecation forcing the TUMU Kuoró and the District Assembly to resort to litigation as a strategy to fight the practice which make the district prone to filth related diseases.

The recently released CDD/UNICEF survey marked the area’s performance unsatisfactory in open defecation.