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Sanitation has become a major problem in Ghana in recent times. Many reasons have been assigned for the insanitary conditions that have engulfed virtually every community in the country. Our general reliance on polythene bags for packaging of food and all kinds of merchandise has compounded the problems because materials used for the production of these bags are not bio-degradable. Despite the campaign launched by the Nshorenaa Project this year to clean the beaches the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies appear not to be up to the task although they have laws that spell out sanctions against deviants. By law, all landlords are required to provide places of convenience in their houses but they do not, resulting in extreme pressure on public facilities. Residents who cannot stand the long queues at these public places of convenience defecate in open places and along the beaches. The situation has become so grave that a phenomenon has emerged among city dwellers who do not have access to places of convenience to defecate in polythene bags which they sarcastically call �take away� which they throw about. Residents along the beaches in Ghana have given various reasons why they defecate along the beaches. While some say they enjoy the breeze, others say they do not have any place to attend to the call of nature. Another group of residents along the beach particularly in the Central Region have assigned superstitious reasons. Whatever the case may be, environmental practitioners and health professionals have attributed the present cholera epidemic to open defecation particularly along the beaches. This negative practice is also affecting tourism in the country as the stench from the faeces has affected the serenity along the beaches. The garbage that are thrown into open drains that are washed into the sea and the open defecation have reduced the patronage of recreational activities on the beaches from Half Assini to Aflao. Those who continue to enjoy the fun are not spared the stench from faeces and garbage washed into the sea. A tour by the Daily Graphic team along the beaches showed that men, women and children of all ages squat along the beaches to attend to the call of nature and the stench along the beaches is unbearable. However, it was observed that there were still some clean beaches in the country. Anomabo It is 8.23 a.m. on Wednesday, September 10, 2014. Men, women and children of all ages squat at the landing beach at Anomabo defecating. The stench there is unbearable. A few yards away from the faeces, fishmongers dress fishes caught by fishermen from the sea, in readiness for sale. Also, women cook the popular Fante dish, etsew, in make-shift wooden kitchens erected close by. There are some women selling bread and some kind of porridge at the beach. Half-naked children run by, fall down in the process, get up and clear the beach sand from their bodies with their hands and jump about playfully. The children who get smeared with faeces as they fall, quickly dash for the oncoming waves, wash the faeces off and go back to play. The adults �meander� through the faeces on the beach with much skill to avoid stepping into them. Some fishermen mend their nets while others pull their fishing vessels from the sea onto the beach. While they do this, they sing popular Fante songs. A stranger to this beach has to walk carefully with his or her eyes wide open to avoid stepping into �land mines.� But it is clear that the fisher folk do not see anything wrong with their surroundings. The role of superstition About 70 yards from the landing beach, there is a modern 10-seater water closet facility constructed for the fisher folk by the Mfantsiman Municipal Assembly. But they are not interested. And why should they be? Their gods would be angry with them if they do not defecate on the beach. �Two of the gods in this town - Ekitsaba and Obosantsi, demand that we defecate on the beaches,� 28-year-old Akomea Sekyi, a fisherman, told the Daily Graphic. �You see, they use the faeces to produce fish for us. Anytime we stop defecating they get angry and our catch is very low. What is worse, they kill�. A few years ago, some employees of Zoomlion used to clean the beach. One of their supervisors gave an edict that no one should defecate on the beach. We made him aware of the consequences of that decree but he ignored us. We complied. But a few days later the gods got angry and killed that Zoomlion supervisor. In fact, a few minutes before he died, he intimated that one of the gods appeared in the form of a human being and attacked him. �In the past seven years, Obosantsi alone has killed three people for trying to stop the practice. So as for defecating on the beach, we cannot stop,� he said shamelessly. The Deputy Apofohen (Deputy Chief Fisherman) at Anomabo, Mr Thompson Enninful, confirmed that the gods liked faeces and demanded it from them. However, he said, the fisher folk had been directed to defecate only at designated places at the beach where the gods were known to operate. �We have erected a red flag at some places to show that defecating at those places is unacceptable but people will just not comply,� he said. Asked why the fisher folk declined to use the 10-seater toilet facility, he said they could not afford to pay the 50 pesewas charged and also because the facility closed at 10 p.m. and opened at 5.30 am. �Even if we had the money, what happens when someone wants to use the facility after 10 p.m.,� he asked. But the caretaker of the toilet, Mr Eric Kwesi Biney, told the Daily Graphic that the fisher folk would not use the facility even if it was opened for 24 hours every day. He, however, said the facility could not be opened for 24 hours because as a caretaker, he had to make way for the gods to use the facility, adding that they (the gods) used the toilet from 11.30 p.m to 3a.m. �At about midnight on a certain day, as caretaker, I visited the facility. There was nobody here, I was alone. Suddenly one of the gods emerged in the shape of a woman and warned me never to come to the facility at midnight. The god explained that they used the facility from 11.30pm to 3 a.m,� he said. The situation in Apam If anyone thought the situation at Apam, in the Gomoa West District, was any better, he or she has got another think coming. People of all ages defecate close to the landing site. Fishermen and fishmongers bargain over fish while some other fishermen mend their nets in spite of the stench. But the Apam situation has nothing to do with superstition. It is a combination of their unwillingness to change their attitudes and the failure of the district assembly and the traditional authorities to provide a toilet at the landing beach. Enquiries made by the Daily Graphic revealed a blame game among the Apaamanhen, Obotantam Edu-Effrim X; the Gomoa West District Chief Executive, Mr Theophilus Aidoo-Mensah, and the 2013 National Best Fisherman, Kwame Gyan. Mr Aidoo-Mensah told the Daily Graphic that he had made attempts to build toilets for the people since he assumed office in 2009 but the people had resisted the move. According to him, he initiated moves to have one toilet constructed within the premises of an old post office where a toilet once stood and which was close to the beach but the people did not support it. �Due to that, we had to use the money to construct one at Nsoakyir,� he said, adding that �If the chief gives us land, we will build a toilet there anytime.� But it was clear that he had no plans to enforce the assembly�s bye-laws on open defecation. Mr Gyan, for his part, said it was the duty of the Apaamanhen to release land and added that if the chief was determined to have a toilet built, he would have released land for the project. But Obotantam Edu-Effrim did not appear keen on ensuring that a toilet was built for the people. He had no plans to stop open defecation either,� he added. Currently, Zoil, a waste-collection company, cleans the beach every two weeks. But now that you have drawn our attention to this problem, we will see what we can do. We will try and build a new one and ensure that the people use it,� he said without verve. But Kwamena Arhin, a fisherman, summed up the thoughts of the people on the construction of a public toilet in an interview with the Daily Graphic. �We will not use any public toilet constructed for us. We are more comfortable doing it on the beach.� One leaves the beach with the conviction that only an enforcement of the bye-laws on open defecation would stop the people from the unhealthy practice.