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Alebtong authorities decry open defecation
School-going children, local leaders and representatives of development partners march during the commemoration of the belated World Toilet Day in Alebtong District on November 28, 2023. PHOTO | BILL OKETCH
What you need to know:
- Local leaders said Alebtong, which was declared an open defecation-free district in 2019 by the Ministry of Health, is currently facing a sanitation crisis.
School-going children as young as three years old, leaders and development partners on Tuesday marched to Alebtong District headquarters as they commemorated the belated World Toilet Day.
In a bid to help break taboos around toilets and make sanitation for all a global development priority, the United Nations designated November 19 as World Toilet Day.
However, the day was not celebrated in Alebtong and was pushed to November 28, and this was made possible with support from SNV, not-for-profit international development organisations and other partners.
Local leaders said Alebtong, which was declared an open defecation-free district in 2019 by the Ministry of Health, is currently facing a sanitation crisis.
For instance, the entire Abunguru Village, Okomo Parish in Adwir sub-county had only four pit latrines in 2021, according to data from the sub-county. This village, which is prone to floods, has 84 households.
In their short poem, pupils of Alebtong Primary School asked religious leaders to pray to God so their parents could stop going to the bush to answer the call of nature.
Mr Alfred Okite, Alebtong assistant water officer, said 4.7 per cent of the total population in Alebtong defecates in the bush because of the sanitation crisis.
Mr Tonny Ogwal, the Alebtong LC3 chairman, said they formed a sanitation committee last week in a bid to improve latrine coverage in the area.
He said the Alebtong Town Council resolved that any home without a latrine would be fined Shs200,000.
Locals said they are eager and interested in having pit latrines, but the nature of the soil and the underground water does not favour them.
The area is prone to flooding and various reports say one cannot dig deeper than seven meters before they hit the underground water.
As a result, communities are forced to erect temporary structures and shallow pits which are used for a few months during the dry season and they are filled up during the rainy season.
