Residents of Taha practicing open defecation

The residents of Taha in the Sagnarigu Municipality of the Northern region are practising open defecation.

The residents are compelled to indulging in this practice because of the lack of existence of any form of toilet facility for the community.

The residents use the open spaces for defecation, both men and women, as well as children.

Abdul Sammed Gurundari, a reporter with Soireenews.com visited the community to ascertain some of the challenges bordering the inhabitants.

The community has an inhabitants’ population of about 2,000 Speaking to some of the residents, they said the lack of toilet facilities in the community is a major problem.

They indicated that the community has demarcated 2 separate plots of land for toilet facilities in case the government or any organization is willing to construct it for the community.

A woman narrated by saying ‘I have been pressed to go to the toilet since morning but I am keeping it against the night so that I can go into the bushes to ease myself’.

Other narrations were that ‘sometimes you be squatting in the bush easing yourself and someone unknowing would also come and squat in front of you and is always disturbing because in the normal sense, you are not supposed to see the person’s nakedness and it is worrying to us’.

The community faces some other problems including lack of portable drinking water, lack of access roads, lack of furniture in the school and the community experiencing perennial floods during the rainy season.

They complained of having standpipes for several decades now but water has never flowed through it and that put the community to face acute water shortage anytime the rains stop.

According to the Assemblymember of the community Hon Abdul-Karim Yabdoo, he has made several complaints to the Ghana water company limited but no response. He said even some individuals in the community made a follow-up and nothing positive has come out of it.

The community main road is under construction but has been abandoned by the contractor for some time now and according to Yabdoo, he contacted the contractor who promised to return to the site and he further sent a complaint to the Department of Urban Roads.

Some of the residents raised concerns about the lack of furniture for pupils to sit and learn.

The community members had contributed money to renovate the floors of the classrooms. Gurundari community entry was amazed as he was greeted with thousands of plastic bottles packed beside a culvert.

The culverts serving drains for the rain waters to flow through. The plastics block the water and that spreads the water to flood the community. Taha community is 7 kilometres away from Tamale township and is under Tamale North constituency.

Taha community is making their plea to the government, non-governmental organizations and philanthropists to support them with either household latrines or a public toilet for easy access to ease themselves anytime nature calls but the practice in the Taha community is still in process.

 Abdul Sammed Gurundari

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