Mr Fusca Ninkpeng, the Assembly Member for the Kaleo East Electoral Area in the Nadowli/Kaleo District, has expressed concern about Open Defecation (OD) and indiscriminate waste disposal around the Kaleo Dam.

He said anytime it rained the rainwater carried the faecal matter and rubbish into the dam, rendering the water unwholesome, and said it posed a serious health risk to the people.

"People use to farm vegetable at the dam area, some women also wash dawadawa there, but now you cannot use the water for any domestic purpose due to the pollution and can cause cholera", Mr Ninkpeng explained.

Mr Ninkpeng, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Kaleo, blamed the situation on the negative attitude of the people towards sanitation-related issues.

He said all efforts to stop the people from defecating and damping refuse around the dam were fruitless, as some of them deliberately engaged in the act.

He also partly blamed the situation on inadequate waste bins and the lack of toilet facilities in the community.

He said the community of over 3000 people depended on only three waste bins saying, "I am in talks with Zoomlion Ghana Limited to provide the community with additional waste bins to help end the menace".

The Assembly Member entreated the people to make use of the available waste bins or must try as possible to dig and burry the refuse to help ensure cleanliness.

He also urged them to construct household latrines rather than defecating in the open, especially around the dam as that was inimical to their health.

Meanwhile, a visit to the dam by the GNA revealed that some people had come to wash dawadawa while some people had also planted at the dam.

Incidentally, the GNA also spotted an old lady who had come to damp refuse at the dam and also defecated close to the dam.

She told the GNA that she came to damp the refuse there because the waste bin was far from her house.

She also noted that there was no toilet facility in the area, hence her decision to defecate along the dam, saying, "Almost all of us in this area defecate here".