Some five million Ghanaians are reported not to have access to any toilet facility and in the Central Region town of Elmina this reality is playing out with a lot of concern and risk to life.

Salt produced in the town is thought to be laced with faecal matter. This is because one of the main factories is sited at a location where hundreds of residents attend to nature's call.

Photo: Salt factory at Teterkessim near Elmina.

A few meters away from the factory is faecal matter splashed all over the stretch of land. Not even the sight of the Joy News' Felix Akoyam could deter some people from attending to nature’s call.

There is also a dustbin near the factory as well as a pool of stagnant water from a pigsty in the squalid.

“This is a very big disaster. We are eating the salt and at the same time easing ourselves here,” a resident said.

However, just like most of the residents, he said there is little he can do about the problem.

Mr Mensah said they need the security agencies to help them curb the rampant open defecation in the area.

Municipal authorities once closed the factory down for failing to stop the residents around from defecating.

The factory was reopened later but according to the Environmental Officer for the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirim municipality, Alex Damptey, even his attempts to prosecute some offenders did not deter them.

“We set up a task force to arrest them, send them to court, and some of them have even been sent to prison but it is still not scaring them,” he said.