Accra - A health-threatening pool of human excreta has been overflowing into people's homes right in the heart of Srodae, a heavily-populated suburb of Koforidua.

Accordingly, "opinion leaders" in the community have threatened that they would have no alternative but to "take over the management of the public place of convenience which is the source of the hazard to save the good people of the area".

A letter to that effect was signed by the acting secretary of a group which identified itself as Social Welfare Community Opinion Leaders, Kofson Mensah, and dispatched to the New Juaben Municipal Health Director on July 4. It was also copied to the MCE and the press, among others.

During an inspection, it was observed that the pool is not just situated right adjacent to the Municipal office of the Department of Social Welfare, but it is less than a stone throw from a chop bar with the euphemistic inscription "Eda Dinn Chop Bar". Also close by is a Salvation Army school accommodating hundreds of pupils. The Social Welfare public place of convenience has a surface tank made of concrete blocks and having an opening at the top through which excreta brought from homes are deposited. It is supposed to be siphoned periodically but it is often left for far too long.

"When the sun shines we are in trouble as the stench pervades our homes and kills our appetite for food," a resident, Afrakoma complained. But perhaps a worse situation is when it rains as all the neighbourhood people lamented how the excreta is washed through choked gutters into their homes. "Rain or shine, the sea of houseflies and mosquitoes that flood our homes from the tank is constant," one teacher added.

In view of the fact that we are in the cholera peak season, the petitioners entreated the authorities to remedy the situation immediately to forestall the breakout of any epidemic.

Investigations revealed that there was a deep-seated feeling amongst the residents that the conditions at the toilet had been deliberately left to degenerate because a man contracted to manage the place was only interested in his profits. This feeling had engendered serious agitations culminating in the "opinion leaders' petition".

In order to get the reaction of the NJMA to the complaints, the Municipal Public Health Officer, Mr. Francis Quist was contacted. He, however, denied knowledge of the overflowing pool. "As soon as I find out that it is true, I will know what measures to take," he assured.

Mr. Quist, in the meantime, suggested that the problem may have arisen from the fact that some people stand far from the tank and throw in their excreta, often missing their mark and soiling the ground. And that flows about when it rains. Others, he continued, dump insoluble materials such as dead animals, plastics and fish cartons in the containers and that makes it difficult to dislodge them.