Accra, Nov. 29, GNA - The Supreme Court will on February 5, 2008 listen to a substantive writ brought before it against the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) by an Accra legal practitioner challenging the Assembly's constitutional right to engage people to carry human excreta.

The court fixed the date on Wednesday after dismissing a preliminary objection raised by Mr Stanley Amarteifio, counsel for the AMA, that the court had no jurisdiction to determine the matter. The Supreme Court presided over by Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo ruled that it had jurisdiction to hear the case, and fixed February 5, 2008 to go into it.

Other members of the panel were Mr Justice Steve Brobbey, Mr Justice R. T. Aninakwa, Mrs Justice Sophia Adinyira and Mr Justice S. K. Asiamah.

The panel asked Nana Adjei Ampofo, an Accra legal practitioner who has brought the action against AMA, and who is representing himself, the Attorney-General who has been sued jointly with the AMA and Mr Amarteifio, to take steps to agree on the memorandum of issues and file all other relevant documents before the next adjourned date. Nana Ampofo in his writ is seeking a declaration from the court that the act or practice of AMA engaging the services of certain Ghanaians to carry faeces or toilet in pans on their heads is an affront to their dignity.

Furthermore, he is praying the court to compel AMA to abolish the practice, since it is not only cruel and inhuman, but also degrading to such people as human beings.

One other relief being sought by Nana Ampofo is for the court to direct AMA to abolish the practice, since it is inconsistent with, and contravenes Article 15 of the 1992 Constitution. That portion of the Constitution states, among other things, that the dignity of all persons shall be inviolable, and that no person shall, whether or not he is arrested, restricted or detained, be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments or punishment. In his submissions, he argued that public interest considerations required the immediate abolishing of the practice, as it constituted a health hazard to the carriers and promoted the spread of diseases. Nana Ampofo submitted that if AMA made bylaws banning the practice and ensured compliance, house owners would provide more hygienic places of convenience. He said the Assembly could also provide on site disposal systems or hygienic collection, treatment and off-site disposal systems. Nana Ampofo further submitted that the use of pan latrines ought to be abolished or banned in a country that was aspiring to achieve middle-income status by 2015. He argued that the carriers of the faeces, often referred to as "latrine boys", "do not work out of choice", and by carrying the toilet pans on their heads, the human excreta at times spilled over onto their shoulders with its attendant stench.