Some residents in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis Metropolis have appealed to the city's authorities to allow public toilets in the area to operate beyond 10pm.

They asserted that because the metropolitan assembly had warned those manning public toilets to close their facilities at 10pm, some residents who would like to attend nature's call beyond 10pm had no alternative but to defecate along the beaches.

"So for the assembly to curtail the defecation along the beaches to promote tourism in the coastal areas, the assembly should rescind its decision to stop the operation of public toilets after 10pm," one resident requested.

The concern was expressed during a stakeholders' meeting organized by 'Save Our Beaches Ghana' - a non-government organisation (NGO) in Sekondi.

The meeting, which was attended by fishermen, fishmongers, opinion leaders and some metropolitan authorities, was themed, "Our Beaches, Our Heritage, Our Role."

It was aimed among other things, at educating the participants on the need to keep the beaches clean to promote tourism in the coastal communities.

Assembly Member for Asafo electoral area in Sekondi, Sampson Nimako, remarked that the directive to close all public toilets by 10pm was partly the cause of people defecating anywhere, particularly along the beaches in certain coastal communities.

He said it's unfortunate that most of the houses in the metropolis are old and do not have toilet facilities.

He noted that during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regime of President John Agyekum Kufuor, the World Bank assisted the assembly financially to construct toilet facilities for households that did not have them.

He noted that when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) took over power, that initiative stopped and most people now continue to defecate along the beaches.

He indicated that apart from the fact that most residents found it difficult to pay money to attend nature's call in public toilets, closing the facilities at 10pm had not helped the situation.

Reacting to the assertion, Ahmed Suley, Director of Metropolitan Health Department, noted that it was compulsory for every landlord to build toilet facilities in their respective houses before renting them out.

He explained that public toilets were meant for travelers and traders who vis­ited the metropolis and needed places to ease themselves.

He indicated that the assembly had decided that those manning public toilets could close by 10pm and not that they should close at that time at all cost.

Paa Kwesi Wilson, Executive Secretary of Save Our Beaches Ghana, pointed out that his outfit was poised to educate fishermen on good sanitation practices and the need to have clean environments.