Tema-Ghana, March 05, GNA – The Media Coalition Against Open Defecation (M-CODe) is to engage the various Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC) and Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) on the implementation of “M-CODe 2023 Anti-Open Defecation Nationwide Advocacy.
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, M-CODe National Convener, in a statement said the RCC and MMDAs played a critical role in granting building permits, and that the starting point against Open Defecation was the enforcement of Building Laws and Bye-laws.
The M-CODe stated that RCC and MMDAs must be supported to educate the public to understand that building permits would only be issued to potential house developers with strategic building plans which show clearly that toilet facilities were included.
“While we work to ensure that old houses without toilets ratify the anomalies, we must ensure that new buildings are not allowed to spring up without toilet facilities, the RCC and MMDAs have a bigger role to play toward the achievement of Open Defecation Free,” the M-CODe stated.
The M-CODe 2023 Anti-Open Defecation Nationwide Advocacy is a relentless national advocacy aimed at ending the practice of defecating in the open, rather than in a toilet.
The media advocacy group seeks through the M-CODe 2023 Anti-OD Nationwide Advocacy to rejuvenate public awareness campaign toward the global target of elimination of open defecation (OD) by 2030.
The M-CODe stressed the need for a proactive public education to ensure that people appreciate the need to stop open defecation, “we will as part of the measures applaud RCCs and MMDAs doing well to end OD, and also expose those who fail to do so.”
M-CODe reiterated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) goal six, which requires a substantial acceleration in toilet use.
In Ghana, we must change the dynamics stressing that “open defecation is an affront to the dignity, health, and well-being, especially of girls and women and it is a disgrace to the nation, where is our pride if in the 21st century, a section of our people still indulges in open defecation?
The statement said M-CODe would work with other strategic stakeholders, including World Vision Ghana which has been a major backbone of the coalition as well as the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Sanitation and Water Project for Ghana toward the realization of the advocacy,
upscaling advocacy against open defecation.
The M-CODe 2023 Anti-OD Nationwide Advocacy would also focus on religious and traditional leaders, media personnel, celebrities, politicians, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, and other strategic stakeholders in the environmental, health, sanitation, as well as industry players.
The Media Coalition Against Open Defecation also called on the corporate world to support the national efforts at ending open defecation which also requires investment in the construction, maintenance, and use of latrines, and other basic services.
The M-CODe 2023 Anti-OD Nationwide Advocacy would also focus on a series of activities in line with the World Water Day events slated for March 22, and World Toilet Day fixed for November 19.
