At least 20,000 Ghanaian have been afflicted with cholera this year. La General Hospital, one of at least four hospitals in the capital, 1726 were treated with the disease while 16 died.
The cholera outbreak has so far claimed 187 lives, with more than 20,000 people hospitalised.
In a belated attempt to combat the cholera outbreak, 26 people have been arrested for defecating into drains last week, in a joint exercise by the municipal assembly and the Cantonments Police.
The culprits were arrested while they were openly easing themselves into drains around the Aviation Social Centre, the Civil Service Secretariat at Cantonments, the Trade Fair Cemetery, the Wizard Park, near the Rangoon Camp Cluster of Schools, and the Africa Lake.
Eighteen others were arrested in a similar exercise in the municipality last month.
The move is part of efforts to eradicate cholera in the municipality, which is among the hardest hit by this year’s cholera outbreak.
In an interview, the Dadekotopon Municipal Environmental Officer, Mr. Victor Acquaye, said the assembly was taking all the necessary steps to ensure that people who defecated outside, particularly in the storm drains, stopped.
“We are doing this to send a strong warning to the people who are fond of defecating into our storm drains. It is a war on cholera and we are making sure people stop this practice,” he said.
To find a lasting solution to the problem, he said the assembly had issued notices to all landlords in the municipality without toilet facilities in their homes to provide them within three months or face prosecution.
Cholera outbreaks in Ghana have often been blamed on the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies for their failure to properly manage the tonnes of refuse generated within their jurisdictions.
Others have also been blamed for not monitoring the performance of waste management companies paid to retrieve waste in their jurisdictions.
In that regard, the Assistant Chief Environmental Officer of the assembly, Mr. Gordon Akoriyia, said the assembly was keeping a close watch on waste contractors and any of them who failed to achieve his targets would be fired and replaced with others who would do the job better.