Residents of Funkor, a coastal community in the Ahanta West Municipality of the Western Region, are raising red flags over an escalating sanitation crisis.
The community of over 7,000 people is currently reliant on a single, severely deteriorated public toilet facility, a situation residents describe as a ticking public health time bomb.
Although the town was originally provided with three public toilet facility, two have been rendered unusable due to an unresolved legal battle over land ownership.
The only facility still operational is in a deplorable state, with crumbling walls and an overpowering stench that makes usage unbearable, particularly for women, many of whom report frequent infections linked to unhygienic conditions.
“The toilet facility is very far and its sanitary conditions are very bad. Women in this community are really suffering, most of us end up with infections” said a female resident.
The lack of adequate facilities has forced many residents to resort to open defecation, particularly along the community’s beachfront an environmental hazard with far-reaching health implications. This practice is also a violation of the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851), which prohibits open defecation in public spaces.
Further compounding the situation is poor waste management. The community operates only two dumping sites, both of which are overstretched.
This has led to indiscriminate waste disposal, contributing to the unsanitary conditions and posing additional threats to both the environment and human health.
Hayford Kofi Otabil, the Assembly Member for Funkor, is appealing to government authorities, development partners, and non-governmental organizations to intervene.
“We urgently need a modern, hygienic toilet facility to protect the health of our people and to uphold their dignity. I have been doing my best. I have written to companies in the community, I have also raised the issue at the District Assembly hoping help will come…should any philanthropist step in to build a modern place of convenience to be used by the community, we will forever be thankful,” Otabil stated.
