The Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) has partnered with JoyNews’ Clean Ghana Campaign to embark on an aggressive campaign to rid the metropolis of filth and open defecation.

According to the Assembly, over 1,400 households in STMA do not have toilet facilities, forcing 702 households to resort to open defecation.

This was revealed at the launch of the campaign in Sekondi on Wednesday morning.

Speaking during the launch of the project at the Assembly premises in Sekondi, on Wednesday, the Mayor for STMA, Abdul Mumin Issah noted that people are still engaging in open defecation at seashores and in the bushes despite the numerous efforts by the assembly to discourage the phenomena of open defecation.

“The habit of some residents deliberately dumping waste into drains, roadsides, and other unauthorized places continues to choke drains, causing flooding in the Metropolis. Insanitary conditions at homes, eateries, markets, transport terminals and other workplaces continue to spread communicable diseases like cholera, malaria and typhoid among the public, and in some cases, causing the death of precious citizens,” he added.

Again, he said the Assembly arrested 176 people in 2021 for open defecation; 89 in 2022, and 40 at the end of the third quarter of 2023, adding that this year alone, 27 houses without toilets and 30 other sanitation-related nuisances have been prosecuted successfully.

“We cannot allow this sorry situation to continue in our Metropolis, it is against this background that the STMA with support from the implementation of Twin-Cities in Sustainable Partnership Project (TCSPP), is partnering with JOY NEWS and selected local radio stations to launch a campaign dubbed “Operation Clean Your Surroundings” to promote good hygiene practices. The STMA learnt this lesson from the Accra project with JOY NEWS dubbed “Operations Clean Your Frontage,” he added.

Mr Mumin Issah explained that the aim of the campaign is to enforce the Assembly’s environmental sanitation by-laws and encourage citizens to take responsibility for their actions. It is also to raise awareness of cleanliness, hygiene, waste management, and environmental preservation through media coverage and the deployment of a task force.

“The campaign will educate, arrest, prosecute, name, and shame sanitation-related offenders across the Metropolis. We ultimately aim to collectively change certain socio-cultural practices from the community members towards environmental sanitation.

“I, therefore, have the privilege to this day declare the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and JOY NEWS “Operation Clean Your Surroundings” campaign duly launched,” he explained.