AMA educates residents of Nima on cholera prevention

Accra, March 25, GNA - The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) on Friday organised a sensitisation programme for the people of Nima in Accra on cholera prevention.

The programme formed part of measures being undertaken by the Assembly in its quest to educate people on the disease that had engulfed the country with Accra leading the chart. At least 64 have died from cholera since last September. Speaking at the programme, Mr Twumasi Ankrah, AMA Solicitor, appealed to landlords to endeavour to provide toilet facilities for their tenants, as open-air defecation had been cited as one of the causes of the spread of the disease.

"With effect from September 2011, any landlord who refuses to provide toilet facilities for tenants would be arrested and prosecuted," he warned.

Mr Ankrah educated the people on the new bye laws drawn up by the Assembly and appealed to people living in the Metropolis to co-operate with AMA in its implementation.

The bye laws, which are mainly on curbing commercial activities on the streets of Accra, would be enforced in April 2011. Anyone who would flout the laws would either pay a fine of GH¢120 or be imprisoned for three months or both. He urged households, which were still using pan latrines, to stop since the practice had been banned by the Assembly. "Any landlord or person who would be caught carrying a pan latrine would be arrested and prosecuted. This practice as we all know has been banned."

Mr Lionel Quarcoo, Ayawaso East Sub-Metro Environmental Officer, who educated the people on cholera prevention asked them to be neat, eat food while it was hot and report those who defecate in gutters and other unauthorised places to the offices of the sub-metro.