Thirty (30) persons within the Tamale Metropolitan operational area have been prosecuted for various sanitation related offenses under the Urban Sanitation Project.
As part of efforts to enforce sanitation by-laws, the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly has also increased its fines for sanitation offenders from 250 Ghana cedis to 1,200 Ghana cedis.
So that 50% of all fines are allocated to the Metropolitan Assembly as Internally Generated Funds (IGF) while the remaining 50% are paid into the consolidated fund.
Consultant for the Urban Sanitation Project, Abrahim Iddrisu at a media engagement forum in Tamale, said 39 percent of households in urban Tamale now have access to improved sanitation owing to the urban sanitation project as against 11 percent before the start of the project in 2015.
In a presentation, he indicated that 96.8% of the households who now have toilets were using public toilets or engaged in open defecation prior to the start of the Urban Sanitation Project in 2015.
Abrahim Iddrisu lamented that lack of finance for households to construct resilient toilets is a major challenge facing the Urban Sanitation Project, explaining that some people within the urban Tamale are unable to afford a befitting toilet.
Coordinating Director at the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly Gilbert B. Nuuri-Teg said the assembly started the project implementation in 2015 and met all the project targets at the first phase which enabled the assembly to be considered for the second phase.
He urged the media to collaborate with the assembly in the fight against poor sanitation within the metropolis to ensure all people live healthy and can contribute to the development of the country.
The Urban Sanitation Project is a partnership project between the Government of Ghana and UNICEF and funded by the Netherlands Embassy.
Under the project, 60 artisans were trained within the Tamale Metropolitan Area in different toilet technology options to enable them to assist locals develop fit for purpose toilets at a suitable cost.
The project has been implemented in 53 communities within the Tamale Metropolitan Area and four other assemblies across Ghana.
Story By: Edward A. Ken-Zorre
