Mr Speaker, I am
grateful to you for the opportunity to
add my voice to the Statement ably
made by Mr Amidu Issahaku
Chinnia, who is the Hon Deputy
Minister for Sanitation and Water
Resources, on World Toilet Day,
which falls on the 19th of November
each year.
Mr Speaker, this is a very
important Statement, and I need to
pat the Hon Deputy Minister on his
back for making the Statement. We
would either live long or die early
based on the nature of our
environment. If we leave in a society
where we have a very good
environment with proper sanitation
and hygiene, it is more likely that we
can guarantee longevity of our
lifespan. That is why all steps and
efforts must be put in place to ensure
that the sanitation that surrounds us is
something that will promote our well-
being and also protect our health.
Making provision for toilets in
households is very important because
in some homes and communities,
they do not have toilet facilities and
that is injurious to the health of those
who live within those environments.
Mr Speaker, at pages 7 and 8 where
the Hon Member who made the
Statement enumerated steps that the
Ministry is putting in place to ensure that
we have a clean environment, and also the
availability of toilets in households and
communities, it was conspicuously
missing. The need to have public place of
convenience in communities —
Mr Speaker, if you go to some areas,
especially in the new developing areas,
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there are no public place, of
convenience in those places. So, as
much as we are thinking about
families and households, we must
also be thinking about guests, people
who visit these communities. How do
they get place of convenience, and
how do they get toilets if some are not
built there?
So, I am thinking that the Ministry
must also address their minds to these
areas in ensuring that we have public
places of convenience in
communities which will not only
serve the inhabitants of those areas,
but also people who visit them.
Mr Speaker, I think that it is
something that is note-worthy and
must be done. It is also painful to me
that in this day and age, we are
talking about the fact that we need but
do not have household toilets. We are
in the 21st Century, and I think that
we need to hasten our steps and
efforts and ensure that every
household will have a decent place of
convenience, mostly because of its
health implication.
Mr Speaker, in this country, one
goes to buy food and sees vendors
selling along gutters and in open
drains. One goes to buy food and buys
diseases; one buys food and buys his or
her death warrant. In some areas, you
will see that faecēs are emptied into
open drains (gutters) and people still
buy from such environments. So, I think
that we need to do much to forestall
these negative health consequences on
our being.
Mr Speaker, on that note, I want to
once again, commend the Hon
Member who made the Statement and
also thank you for the opportunity
given to me to add these few words to
the Statement.
Ms Abla Dzifa Gomashie (NDC
— Ketu South): Mr Speaker, thank you very much.
Mr Speaker, permit me to
acknowledge and applaud the Hon
Member who made the Statement,
Hon Member for Sissala East, Mr
Amidu Chinnia, and to say that it is a
well-researched paper, and I
associate myself with a lot of the
things that he has mentioned most
especially, the part that affects
women and especially girls, who
every month by nature have to
menstruate, and I am sure that I am
about to embarrass some people in
the House.
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Mr Speaker, every month, whether
a woman likes it or not, nature will
make you lose three or five days, and
for some, it comes with a lot of pain,
for others, it is longer days whereas it
is shorter days with others.
Mr Speaker, it is unfortunate that
in 2022, we still do not have places of
convenience, where a woman could
go and change her sanitary towel
because nature demands that she
does.
Mr Speaker, earlier contributors
have also mentioned the fact that this
keeps our girls away from school.
The part that also saddens me greatly
is the luxury tax on the sanitary
towels which our girls need.
So, you may even provide the
facility for them to go and change
their sanitary towels, but the cost of
that towel itself is an issue that we
have to deal with.
Mr Speaker, imagine if you have
to wrap toilet roll around your hand
to use in place of a pad, and you do
not even have a proper, decent toilet
facility to use, it is most
embarrassing, it is uncomfortable,
and it reduces ones' dignity.
Mr Speaker, I am truly grateful for
this message and would like to use
the opportunity to draw our attention
to the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) 3 and 6. Goal 3 which
says: “Good Health and Wellbeing” Looking up for our wellbeing as
women, is ensuring that all our
market places have toilet facilities
and that our schools have toilet
facilities, so that our girls can have a
decent place to use not only for
nature's call [I mean going to urinate and the second one], but also to have
a sense of dignity to take care of
themselves. Goal 6, “Clean Water and Sanitation”. We have fallen short of expectation.
Mr Speaker, I would want to urge
the House to do whatever it can to
support this call by the Hon Member
for Sissala East, and to finally say
that in this country, we did have a
policy that ensure that fuel stations
had toilets. We can do it again. We
can provide toilet facilities in all our
public spaces, so that we can end the
shame that women go through when
they have their menstrual cycle.
Mr Speaker, I thank you very
much for this opportunity and urge
the Hon Member for Sissala East to
continue with his good work.
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