Chiefs and people of Bongo Traditional Area in the Upper East Region have climaxed this year’s Azambene festival with the launch of a fund to help end open defecation by the end of 2024.
The fund dubbed, ‘Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Fund’ is to be managed by a non-partisan committee, comprising various organisations and the Bongo District Assembly, would help vulnerable households in the district who cannot afford to build a toilet facility or latrine to own one.
The fund would also be used to help provide WASH facilities, particularly toilet facilities at public places such as marketplaces, and lorry stations among other public places to ensure places of convenience.
All proceeds from this year’s Azambene festival held on the theme: ‘Improving Access to WASH Services: The Role of Traditional Leaders and the People,’ had been channelled into the fund whose bank account would be opened at the Maltaaba Rural Bank in the district.
The move by the Bongo Traditional Area led by Naba Baba Salifu Atama
le Lemyaarum, the Paramount Chief of the Traditional Area, was to support the efforts of development partners, particularly, WaterAid Ghana, a WASH-focused organisation to end open defection.
WaterAid Ghana is implementing a five-year strategic project in the Bongo District to ensure access to safe drinking water, good sanitation and hygiene for all as well as to help fight the high fluoride issue which had been a bane in the district.
Addressing a durbar characterised by a rich cultural display from various cultural troops across the Traditional Area, Naba Lemyaarum appealed to indigenes and philanthropists both in Ghana and the diaspora to contribute to the fund to help realise the goal.
‘The theme for the durbar has become necessary since Bongo has been chosen by WaterAid Ghana to support us in providing potable water and managing our sanitation and hygiene for a better life and good health.
‘In that regard, there is a need for us the chiefs, queen mothers and everyone to show our commitment. So, we ha
ve decided to use this durbar and subsequent durbars to contribute to a WASH fund that will take care of sanitation and hygiene issues in the district,’ he pledged.
The Paramount Chief stressed that ‘we are committed to ending open defecation by the end of 2024,’ adding that it would be meaningless to have potable water while polluting the same water and the environment through faecal matter from open defection.
He asked the people of the district to place the development of the district above a partisan lens and contribute significantly to the fund and other development needs of the district to improve the life of the people.
Ms Ewurabena Yanyi-Akofur, Country Director of WaterAid Ghana, commended Naba Lemyaarum for leading the fight against open defecation in the area through the establishment of the WASH fund.
She noted that the fund would serve as a beacon of hope for those communities still grappling with access to dignified sanitation facilities.
She said access to WASH services was not only a huma
n rights issue but a global call to strengthen efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly goal six, which emphasizes access to water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030.
Ms Rita Atanga, the District Chief Executive for the area, said out of the 168 communities in the district, only 63 had been declared open defecation-free and urged for collective efforts to address the menace.
Source: Ghana News Agency