Busa, (U/W), Nov. 22, – Open defecation has engulfed the Busa
Community Clinic under Wa Municipal exposing the health of both patients and
health personnel at the facility to further risk as they breathed in the bad
stench coming from the faecal substances.
The community lacked both public
and household toilets; a situation that forced members to resort to open
defecation.
Nancy Momoro, a Midwife at Busa
Clinic brought this to light during a town hall meeting organised by the Media
Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) with support from DW Akademie in Germany as
part of the implementation of a project dubbed “Promoting Citizen’s
Participation in Local Governance through Increase Access to Information”.
The Midwife noted that the clinic
lacked security lights which made the place dark at night; a situation that
made it a convenient place for both children and adults to engage in open
defecation.
“The darkness of the place also
exposes the people to the threat of snake bites at night”, she said.
Madam Nancy therefore appealed to
the Wa Municipal Assembly to provide street lights around the clinic to
brighten up the place and also provide a public toilet for the people to
prevent them from engaging in open defecation.
Mr Mohammed Musah Bipuah, the
In-charge of the Busa Clinic also appealed to the Assembly to help the clinic
with a maternity ward and at least two delivery beds to support the comfort of
women who come to the facility to deliver.
Ahmed Mansurah, a Teacher at Busa
KG also raised a concern of people defecating on the school campus and
sometimes inside the classrooms, saying “Just yesterday, we had to convey
faeces out of one of the classrooms and wash it before using it”.
She appealed to the Assembly to
provide street lights at the school campus to prevent people from openly
defecating at the school premises.
Mr Issahaku Tahiru Moomin, Wa
Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) thanked the people for the concerns raised and
said the Assembly had taken notice of them and would act accordingly.
The MCE said the Assembly had
acquired 200 poles to help extend electricity to some communities without
electricity while liaising with other organizations to acquire pipes for the
extension of potable water to other communities.
Madam Beate Weides, DW Akademie
Country Coordinator Ghana said there was high press freedom in Ghana but
pointed out that citizens access to information was however weak which needed
to be addressed.
She said it was for this reason
that DW Akademie was supporting media training in Africa including; Ghana to
help build trust between Assemblies and the media to enable them join forces to
keep citizens well informed to enhance their participation in local governance.
Mr. Jerry Sam, Programmes Director
for Penplusbytes said they were working to ensure that information from the
Assemblies would be simplified and put online and also on SMS platform for easy
accessibility for people to channel their concerns to the Assemblies using the
same platforms.
Mr Philip Acquaye, Programme
Officer for MFWA expressed satisfaction at the level of participation, saying
it was very important for citizens to be well informed about the activities of
the Assembly.
“It is easy for you to criticize
when you don’t know, but if you know, you will even help to educate others”, he
said.
GNA
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