Bongo Traditional Council, WaterAid Renew Commitment to End Open Defecation

The Bongo Traditional Council and WaterAid Ghana have reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring that every household in the Bongo District has a toilet facility, as part of efforts to eliminate open defecation.

Both parties pledged to work closely with divisional and sub-chiefs, as well as opinion leaders, to intensify public education and enforce sanitation by-laws so that all households construct toilet facilities within the next five years.

The commitment was made during a high-level engagement between the Council and WaterAid Ghana, held as part of World Toilet Day celebrations on the theme, “Sanitation in a Changing World.” The meeting, facilitated by WaterAid Ghana, aimed to strengthen collaboration on the Bongo Sanitation Challenge, an initiative jointly endorsed by the two bodies to end open defecation within five years.

The Bongo Sanitation Challenge focuses on empowering traditional leaders to champion the campaign against open defecation by educating, motivating, and influencing communities to build household toilets and maintain clean environments.

Currently, only 63 out of 168 communities in the district have been declared open-defecation-free, with some at risk of relapse due to damaged latrines.

Naba Baba Salifu Atamale Lemyaarum, Paramount Chief of the Bongo Traditional Area, expressed concern about the slow progress, noting that fewer than half of the communities had achieved open-defecation-free status. He called for renewed collective action, emphasising the Council’s commitment to working with WaterAid Ghana and other stakeholders, including the District Assembly, to meet the target.