Fourteen people have been arrested by the Sanitation Monitoring Taskforce of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) for engaging in
The 14 are made up of 13 men and a woman.
They are Nii Narh, Nayo Tetteh, Nii Ardey, Osman Yacub, Afidin Yorba, Mohammed Karim, Tetteh Annan, Prince Okeoma, Kojo Agasu, Amofa Samuel, Prince Boateng, Kofi Nsiah, Abednego Hoyomey and Amina Fuseina.
READ MORE: Ghana loses $79m per year to open defecation
Head of Operations at the AMA Public Health Department, Randolph Benjamin Morkeh, who narrated the circumstance under which the 14 were arrested, said the operation was carried out at the James Town and Korle Gonno beaches as well as the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC).
He said the AMA is doing all it can to eliminate open defecation and indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the city of Accra, warning that any person caught in the act will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
He disclosed that the operation will continue tomorrow and cautioned households who do not have toilet facilities to register with the assembly for one.
"We will advise that households or residents should have toilet facilities for themselves and also register with the accredited solid waste company for your waste to be collected and disposed of sanitarily, if you give your waste to these junkies, we will arrest the junky and come after you, too," Morkeh warned.
He also warned residents and public toilet operators who discharge effluent into public drains to desist from the practice, as the AMA will come after them.
Meanwhile, all the 14 suspects have been arraigned. They were taken to the La Sanitation and Motor Court.
Open defecation ranking
In 2017, Ghana has been named among the top 10 countries worldwide with the highest percentage of its population without decent toilets.
Ghana has about 85.7 percent of its population without decent toilets and this equals about 23 million people who suffer the fear and indignity of relieving themselves in the open or in unsafe or unhygienic toilets.