The Accra Metropolitan Assembly is out to sanitise public toilets in the Greater Accra Region.

The exercise which seeks to ensure that facilities maintain strict hygienic conditions will see environmental health officers embarking on surprise visits to the toilet facilities.

Speaking to JoyNews’s Fostina Sarfo, the Accra Mayor, Mohammed Adjei Sowah warned operators of public toilet facilities that they risk being fined or jailed if they breach the safety protocols.

“Public toilets are owned largely by private individuals, there is just a handful of them that are still owned and managed by the assembly, but we have observed its management is been done haphazardly without clear guidelines and protocols for anyone to follow, we will visit the public toilet to ensure there is compliance to the necessary safety protocols," he said.

Ahead of the crackdown, AMA has been engaging public toilet operators, to educate them on hygienic practices.

The Assembly has also launched a guide on the safe management of public toilets in the capital.

“Public toilet operators are very important but nobody regards them as such, so i decided to come out with this guide to help them deliver their service in a hygienic way,” Mr Sowah explained.

Meanwhile, the AMA has begun investigations into the alleged dislodging of liquid waste into water bodies by some unscrupulous waste management companies at night.

“We have heard of reports of the discharging of liquid waste sometimes during odd hours into open drains and water bodies, we will continue to investigate, arrest and prosecute perpetrators, it is not tolerable because as it stand now if you look at the treatment facilities we have in Accra, the capacity is far in excess of the generation so we have no excuse.”

With the onset of the rains, Mayor Mohammed Adjei Sowah cautioned residents to desist from dumping waste into drains adding the assembly is doing its best to desilt choked drains.