If
there is one area in which the current government has failed miserably, it is
in the campaign launched more than a decade ago to eliminate the use of pit
latrines nationwide.
Before
we were ushered into the new millennium, government had vowed to rid the
country of pit latrines and subsequently funds were allotted in the national
budget on a yearly basis for the same. A yearly average of SR 500 000 was
earmarked annually for the project and an army of the ruling party’s activists
under the guise of District Administration staff trotted uphill to identify and
eliminate the latrines as part of the district projects.
Apart
from the obvious discomfort of odour, pit latrines have the potential of
leaching into underground water and threatening human health through
contamination.
Only
last year in Cabo Verde, the recently retired Minister for Health, Mr Jean Paul
Adam, while addressing the African Health Forum, gave credit to the government
of which he was part. He lauded Danny Faure’s government for its sustained
investment in the elimination of pit latrines in attaining sustainable health
security for the country. He was certainly aware of his government’s failure in
that respect.
Sadly,
pit latrines still form part of our landscape and unless government is truly
committed to alleviate poverty, pit latrines will be there to stay. In a
country where district projects are subjected to political interference,
massive failures are bound to be the order of the day.
