The chiefs and people of Atronie in the Sunyani Municipality have appealed for communal toilets to address part of the sanitation challenges in the area.
Odiawisie Boamponsem Darko II, the newly-enstooled chief of Atronie in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the sanitation situation in the town had worsened due to the lack of public toilets.
He said many of the households in the area had no in-house toilets and because the only public toilet for the whole town was dilapidated, it was very difficult for some of the residents to find places to ease themselves.
Odiawisie Darko II said the situation had worsened to the extent that some of the residents, including women and children, defecated openly or in black polythene bags and dumped them in gutters, while some of the men defecated in nearby bushes.
He expressed worry that if the situation was not addressed immediately, there could be an outbreak of communicable diseases, such as cholera and typhoid if the rains fell continuously.
Odiawisie Darko, therefore, appealed to NGOs, and philanthropists, corporate bodies and wealthy citizens of the area to come to their aid before the unexpected happened.
The Chief also expressed concern about rising cases of teenage pregnancies in the town, affecting girl-child education and called for intensified sex education among the teenagers.
Odiawisie Darko II pointed out that the town needed support to control drug abuse and alcoholism among the youth, saying because many of the young people were unemployed they were seriously into drugs, smoking Indian hemp and cigarettes.
Earlier, the Atronie town was greeted with joy and ecstasy on Sunday, when the chief and people carried Odiawisie Darko II in a palanquin and paraded him through the main street of the town amidst sporadic firing of musketries by traditional warriors.
It was, however, hectic for the few Police personnel to control human and vehicular traffic as virtually all the residents filled the street of the town, thereby making it extremely difficult for commercial vehicles coming from the opposite directions.
Known in private life as Nana Gyamfi, the 78 year-old businessman, Odiawisie Darko succeeded his late uncle who died after a short illness.
GNA