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Ga Mashie residents to get subsidised toilets

More than 1,000 people living within the Ga Mashie enclave of the Greater Accra Region would benefit from a subsidised toilet facility to help eradicate open defecation in the area.

The programme, ‘Inner City Household Toilet Project’ is aimed at supporting 52 households acquire an improved toilet facility which is under the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) project.

The programme is under the auspices of the Ministry of Inner City and Zongo Development (ICZD) and in collaboration with the Ga Mashie Development Agency (GAMADA) and the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Sanitation and Water Project

Launching the first phase of the project in Accra on Tuesday, the Minister of ICZD Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, said the project was expected to cover 52 households in the Ga Mashie enclave but would see possible extension in subsequent months

“If we say every household has just 20 people, 20 times 52 is a lot of number and that gives expression to the President Akufo-Addo’s vision that we need to create a society of opportunity for everybody irrespective of where they live,” he added.

He said if Ghana was to actualise the president’s vision of Accra becoming the cleanest city in Africa, then the project to provide every household with a toilet facility was non-negotiable.

Dr Abdul- Hamid, therefore, urged landlords in Ga Mashie and other inner cities to “free spaces” in their homes for the construction of toilet facilities.

He said it was observed that some homes were finding it difficult to free spaces as “every available space in such homes was sleeping places for others”.

The minister said it was also realised that many households could not raise GH¢1,100 since the inception of the GAMA project, hence the continuous practice of open defecation but added that the ministry had decided to subsidise the cost.

He said the construction of the toilet facilities would help in restoring human dignity as it would be a means to ending open defecation.

The minister urged traditional rulers to appeal to their citizens to free spaces for the construction of the toilets and also stop them from defecating at the beaches, adding that such practices deterred tourists from visiting the country and the beaches.

The Sustainability Advisor to the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mr Desmond Appiah, said the project would improve the sanitation situation as well as other related issues in the area.

He, therefore, urged the people to embrace the project and help maintain it after its construction.

BY JEMIMA ESINAM KUATSINU

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