KAKATA, Margibi County – Several modern public toilets and sanitation facilities constructed in Kakata, Margibi County by the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) with funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) have been vandalized by criminals after reportedly being abandoned.
Report by Yawah Y.
According to reports, the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) in Partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB) on May 2,
The Government of Liberia-Africa Development Bank Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project focus was also sited on the construction and completion of a total of 25 modern public toilets and sanitation facilities in the three rural cities.
However, eight of the 25 modern public toilets facilities were built in Kakata City, Margibi County. The modern public toilets facilities constructed in both Buchanan and Kakata were jointly dedicated in August 2016.
The public toilets and sanitation facilities, according to report, were divided into three components and the ones for Kakata and Buchanan were placed in one lot owing to the projects’ proximity.
According to source, in the specific breakdown of the sanitation projects, the total cost of the Buchanan, Kakata and Zwedru’s sanitation and water works amounted to US$535, 701.85; And for the Zwedru sanitation and water project, the AfDB provided US$199,274.66 while Kakata and Buchanan sanitation projects received US$336,427.19.
In Kakata, each of the eight modern public toilets were built into two units with each unit containing four rooms and sanitation facilities with a 200 gallon of water reservoirs (tanks) instilled.
Since the dedication of the project in Margibi County, the facilities remained locked and are currently in ruin as they have been engulfed with growing grass while criminals have broken through some and massively looted them with the commodes, doors and reservoirs at most of the facilities stolen.
Emmanuel Goll, Kakata City Mayor, whose attention has also been drawn to the report stated that when he took over the corporation last year, he made an inquiry through a written communication to the Margibi County office of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) in an bid to know the status of the project, but up to present there has no reply from the authorities there.
Mayor Goll expressed his disappointment to see these modern public toilets and sanitation facilities in ruin which he believes should have help mitigate the growing wave of open defecation in the city.
The Kakata City Mayor lamented that Kakata is faced with the challenge of health threat due to the lack of pit latrines in most parts of the city, noting that the turning over and subsequent usages of LWSC’s facilities would give dwellers of Kakata a sanitary city.
He, however, expressed fear that if the authorities of the LWSC do not urgently turnover these facilities for usage, criminals would further cause more damage to the facilities.
When reporters contacted the LWSC’s Kakata office for reaction, Philipbert Toe, a man who described himself as the Deputy Coordinator of the Kakata site declined to grant an interview, but said the situation with the modern public toilets and sanitation facilities in Kakata was technical and their office has since notified the central Monrovia office about happenings in Margibi County.
“The continuous practice of open defecation by community dwellers in the densely populated city of Kakata which poses health threat despite the construction and completion of modern public toilets and sanitation facilities which remained closed undermines government and partner’s efforts in tackling open defecation and the promotion of sanitation.” A health practitioner asserted.
The Government of Liberia through the National Legislature in August 2016 passed into Law the National Water Supply and Sanitation Commission Act.
The Law seeks to ensure vibrant Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector supported by direct National Government and development partners’ investment which is critical to the rapid economic recovery, reconstruction and development of Liberia.
The Law recognizes that the economic and social development objectives of the people of Liberia shall be best achieved by a favorable and improved Water Supply and Sanitation services (WSS).
At the same time, Liberia and the world have made a commitment to be on track to reach the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6): to ensure availability and sustainable management of sanitation and water for all by 2030.
According to the United Nations, today, 4.5 billion live without a safe toilet and 892 million people still practice open defecation.
SDG 6 aims to ensure that everyone has a safe toilet and that no-one practices open defecation by 2030. Failure to achieve this goal risks the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.