The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has cautioned inhabitants of Glefe, near Dansoman in Accra, against the indiscriminate dumping of refuse and open defecation along the sea defence wall.
The sea defence wall was built to protect the residents from high tides but the residents are said to have turned areas around it into refuse dumping sites at night, making the surroundings an unpleasant sight.
According to Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the indiscipline of the inhabitants has not only slowed down development in the area but had also made it difficult for the completion of a drainage system which was initiated three years ago to address the perennial flooding in the area.
The MP gave the caution when she inspected work on a public toilet for the Glefe community.
Prior to her visit to Glefe, she visited the Dansoman Police Station, where a 16-unit toilet had been completed and handed over to the divisional command.
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“We have had countless engagements with the residents over and over again to inform them about the damage they are causing to themselves and the environment''.
''However, we will have an additional forum with them and inform them that the enforcement period would start after June, by which time the facility would have been completed,†she said.
She said the residents had built indiscriminately and pointed to a drainage system that had stalled because of the siting of a building.
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"The construction of the drains have ended in the middle of nowhere because there are structures everywhere, which make it difficult to have an outlet, so every time it rains this place gets flooded,†she said.
The Dansoman Divisional Police Command, which serves the Dansoman, Mamprobi and Korle Bu districts, had no toilet facility for the many aspects of society it served.
“This 16-unit toilet which has been completed will serve guests who hitherto had to urinate openly for the lack of such a facility,†she said.
The Dansoman Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Isaac Kwadwo Asante, thanked the MP for the facility and promised to ensure that the facility was properly maintained.
He said the lack of accommodation for staff was one of the major challenges facing the Command and appealed to the government to find a way to include the police in its affordable housing project.
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