The Chief of Pelungu in the Nabdam district of the Upper East Region, Naab Sierig Soore Sobil IV, has set target, with the construction of a ten-seater toilet facility, to end open defecation and improve sanitation in the area.

The Pelungu market, one of the biggest and busiest markets in the Upper East Region is without proper toilet facilities, forcing market women and other traders to resort to open defecation.

The situation is not good as it may have health implications on the people.

Naab Sierig Soore Sobil IV who is not happy about the situation despite efforts by the district assembly to provide a 12-seater toilet facility for the area said the people of Pelungu must do something about the menace and other sanitation challenges to avoid health crisis while they wait for help from others.

Speaking in his welcome address on the theme, “Ending open defecation for a healthier, prosperous Pelungu” at the second annual celebration of the Ku’ur festival in Pelungu last week, Naab Sierig Soore Sobil, noting the seriousness of the problem in the area, said funds raised from the occasion of the festival will be channeled into the construction of a ten-seater toilet facility at the market area to address the challenge and to complement what is already being provided for by the assembly.

Naab Sierig Soore Sobil said funds raised in the last year celebration of the festival have already gone into the project.

He believes the promotion of a healthy lifestyle would be the best way to open up all other avenues of socio-economic life of the people.

He said: “The problem of open defecation which is a serious problem especially in our market is not a problem that government alone should solve for us. Our market is one of the biggest in the Upper East Region and it is not proper that the traders especially our women cannot find a proper place of convenience there. The Nabdam District Assembly is doing its part by providing a 12-seater toilet facility which is still under construction. But this will not be enough for a market of that size.

We, therefore, used the occasion of the Ku’ur Festival last year, to try and raise funds for the construction of a ten-seater toilet facility to complement the one already being provided for by the assembly. And that is why the theme for this occasion is “Ending open defecation for a healthier, prosperous Pelungu”.

The Chief also enumerated challenges in education, issues of teenage pregnancies and early marriages, the lack of access to clean drinking water and economic empowerment as some of the major issues facing the Pelungu community.

He, therefore, used the opportunity to invite Non-Government Organization (NGOs), Civil-Society Organizations (CSO) and government agencies, who have ideas of projects that can help develop Pelungu and Nabdam as a whole, to work closely with the traditional authority to find appropriate ways forward.

Mark Kurt Nawaane, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nabdam, who joined several other dignitaries to grace the occasion, encouraged the people to continuously keep the area peaceful, adding that peace and serenity in Nabdam was all he ever wished for them.

Resting his call on the people of Pelungu to ensure a clean environment on the shoulders of the popular saying “cleanliness is next to Godliness”, Mr. Nawaane prayed for the successful achievement of the chief’s set target of making Pelungu a clean urban centre of business.

He pledged to support the toilet facility project with a contribution from his common fund.