The Bolgatanga Sports Stadium in the Bolgatanga Municipality in the Upper East Region has been transformed into a place of convenience by the locals, making the public facility—the sole sports facility in the Region—more obnoxious.
The Municipal Environment and Sanitation Officer, Mr Evans Bornaa, confirmed the situation and said a new task force established by the Municipal Assembly to enforce sanitation issues had noticed the same and started engaging in community sensitization efforts regarding the sanitation issues in the area.
In response to the question of why arrests were not being made to stop the problem, he stated that plans were being made to examine and publicize the Assembly's sanitation bye-laws in order to penalize violators.
He begged the Justice and Security group to hasten the procedures for gazetting the legislation.
He said that because of the severe rains, the municipality's inspection of houses to see if latrines were available for renters had decreased. He expressed optimism that the sanitation bye-laws would assist address the problems.
The Upper East Region has been identified as having the worst performance in terms of open defecation.
According to the Regional Environmental and Sanitation Unit's assessment, which was presented at a workshop held by the Media Coalition Against Open Defecation (M- CODe. ), the Bolgatanga Municipality performed badly when compared to the other villages in the region that practice OD.