<<Print>>

21 persons have been arrested by a joint taskforce of Police and Environmental Health Officers for openly defecating at unauthorized spaces within Sekondi Takoradi metropolis in the Western Region.

The Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly has begun a metro-wide operation on the practice.

The 21 were arrested in two separate operations at Amanful, the center of Takoradi and Ekuase in Sekondi.

While some have been charged and fined, others escaped arrest and have been declared wanted by the police.

In the first operation at Takoradi Amanful, 9 persons, made up of 8 males and a female were arrested. “Seven of them were charged and fined Gh 288 each which they paid before they were freed. One was given a spot fine during the arrest which he paid, but the other absconded, and a bench warrant is issued for his arrest. ”
John Laste, Public Relations Officer of the STMA told Citi News in an interview.

The Wednesday’s operation was carried out in the Sekondi Sub Metro where 13 persons were arrested.

“The process is still ongoing but most of them were given a spot fine. My information is that few of them are finding it difficult to pay. But if they fail to pay, we will let the law courts determine their fate”.

Mr. Laste further explained to Citi News that the STMA is determined to tackle the menace in all the three Sub Metros to ensure sanity and cleanliness.

He reminded landlords and landladies in the metro that “it is their responsibility to provide places of convenience in their homes to their tenants. The assembly is only responsible to provide places of convenience for travelers, visitors, market places and other public gatherings. So the landlords must comply.”

Even though he said Global Communities, a non-governmental organization is voluntarily offering support for landlords to have toilets, “compliance levels are still not the best. We still have challenges with open defecation especially along the sea shores. One of such area at Ekuase is where we arrested the 13 today.

Nonetheless, we will continue to do our best to ensure sanity in our environment.”