People arrested for engaging in open defecation should be made to do communal labour by cleaning communities for one to three months, Ms Rita Odoley Sowah, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of La Dade- Kotopon Municipal Assembly, has said.

“This will serve as a deterrent for others who have the habit of defecating in the open and contributing to the spread of diseases in the communities”, she said.

Speaking to the GNA in an interview at the just-ended 19th biennial national delegates conference of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) held in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, Ms Sowah said the current practice under which people arrested for open defecation are sent to the court and fined, needs a review.

She said they only go back their communities and repeat the same practice.

Ms Sowah, who was elected unopposed, as the Treasurer of NALAG at the conference, said the issue of sanitation such as choked drains and open defecation have become a major concern within her municipality.

She said from 2014 to 2015, over 100 people who engaged in open defecation were arrested in her municipality and sent to the courts.

Ms Sowah said though the municipality has worked hard to ensure that most homes have constructed toilet facilities, people would still want to defecate in the open.

“Some still go to defecate at the beaches, claiming they want fresh air,” she said.

Ms Sowah said some also dump rubbish into drains while many others also engage in business activities on the walkways meant for pedestrians.

“…but people need to change their way of doing things-attitudinal change is very important” she said.

The three-day delegate conference was held under the theme, “Localizing the Post-2015 Agenda: The Role of MMDAs in the Effective Delivery of the SDGs in Ghana”, and it was attended by 1,080 delegates, comprising of five members from each of the 216 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the country.