MINISTER LAUNCHES A 1.4 BILLION SHILLINGS TOILETLESS  PUBLIC FACILITY !

The     Mbezi Mwisho Commuter Bus stand , a 1.4 billion shillings public facility, was launched on Monday 5, March,   2012 by the Hon. Minister of Works Dr John Magufuli, surprisingly without public toilets, strengthening the contention by environmental health activists in the country that sanitation is a low priority for many people , including   government planners and policy implementers.

Two days after the launching , the stand was observed busy with hundreds of passengers boarding and leaving vehicles, or just waiting at the station for transport to their destinations. Meanwhile, workers were frantically    putting up walls of the expected public toilets. Minister Magufuli  had reportedly ordered, during the launching, that the public toilets should be ready within 7 days.

Without appropriate sanitation facilities ,  some people interviewed said passengers   badly in need of toilet facilities would be forced to ease themselves in the storm water drainage channels , behind buses, bushes and buildings, in bottles or polythene bags. With the ensuing rains and poor hygiene especially involving the food vendors and their clients around the station, 7 days of open defecation could trigger a cholera epidemic.

It is surprising that TANROADS, the project implementers or any other agency-government or non government, could ignore  such a key public health and social need. Safe sanitation, like safe water, is a conditional basic   health need and a right for all people.  Sanitation has been highlighted in major national government planning frameworks. Under the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty II or MKUKUTA II, one of the operational targets   is to increase access to improved toilets and functional hand washing facilities at several levels , including public facilities and transport facilities, from 35% in urban areas in 2010 to 45% by 2015.Increased access to improved sanitation facilities in rural and urban areas has also been outlined as a strategic intervention in the Tanzania Five Year Development Plan( 2011/12-2015/16).

With about 50% of the people in Tanzania lacking access to safe sanitation facilities, our aspiration as a country to achieve   most of the World Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)   could be undermined as   the adverse sanitation impacts including diseases, poverty and poor environmental health   are crosscutting.

Launching such an important facility without public toilets brings into perspective the apparent  lack of action over the proliferation of the open defecation spots(ODSs), the so called sehemu za kuchimba dawa , along the major highways and trunk roads.   It also questions the commitment of the Ministry of Health in its oversight role for public health. While it would be difficult for a private project catering for thousands of clients daily to commence without sanitation facilities, a government project of such a magnitude has gone ahead without any hindrance from the public health regulators.

The launching of a toiletless facility does not augur well for Tanzania, a country that commemorates the World Toilet Day every year on  19 November. The objective of the World Toilet Day includes raising awareness on the importance and right of every person and household to a safe toilet. Poor sanitation has been blamed for the repetitive cholera epidemics which affect Dar es salaam city inhabitants almost every year, mostly during the long rain season or in times of severe water crisis.

COBIHESA appeals to the Ministries responsible for health, water, regional administration and local government, local government authorities, non state actors working on sanitation, and key government agencies to   pursue with commitment the targets enshrined in these government master plans in fulfillment of the right of all Tanzanians to safe sanitation. Disturbing anecdotal evidence shows that in most  programmes ,   sanitation receives low priority, as in the case of Mbezi Mwisho bus station where it came last!