Kumasi, Nov. 20, GNA - Mr Kofi Opoku-Manu, Ashanti Regional Minister, has called for strict enforcement of environmental sanitation laws by the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to prevent diseases. He said it was time they acted firmly to end the shameful practice of littering and defecating at open places by some individuals. This was necessary to avoid diseases and keep the government's bill on disease control down.

He was addressing a gathering of school children and people in the Moshie Zongo Community in Kumasi to mark the world's toilet day celebration. I was on the theme; "Sanitation is Dignity, Hygiene is Health". Mr Opoku-Manu asked all landlords to make provision for toilets in their buildings. Parents should also supervise their children so that they do not defecate indiscriminately. He said there was the need for attitudinal change to keep the environment clean.

Mr Samuel Sarpong, Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, said the assembly had rolled out a number of projects and programmes to provide more places of convenience particularly at public places such as lorry stations and markets.

Within the past two years it has increased its toilet tally from 335 to 400 through private/public partnership, he said. He said the assembly was reviewing the management of the public toilets, build, operate and transfer arrangement and the enforcement of the provision of toilets in buildings. Mr Sarpong called on all to join hands to help Ghana achieve the millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on sanitation. Miss Aisha Mohammed, a pupil of the Anyaano Primary School, appealed to government and private school owners to see to it that all schools had decent toilet facilities.