Documentary: The Latrine Men In Accra's Most Notorious Slum

It is a job that is considered degrading and demeaning by Ghana's Supreme Court but which has a few taking it up as a livelihood. Although pan latrines are outlawed since 2008 and declared a thing of the past by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Joynews found out that they are still present in some parts of the city.

The existence of pan latrines requires Night Soil Carriers to evacuate them the way it has been done for many decades.

Joynews investigations show that, that with at least six public pan latrine systems existing in the slum of Old Fadama, latrine boys would always be needed to take care of other people's dirty business for at least 40 cedis a night.

One of such boys is Ndor, as we chose to call him. Eleven years ago, he made a journey to Accra from his village in Ghana’s Upper West Region. He had very high expectations of getting a good job. But after about four months of struggling to get a job in the slums of Old Fadama, Ndor had to take a very difficult decision. He accepted to do the, outlawed, most dehumanizing job – carrying human excreta.

‘ I have never been to school, I lost my father. My mother could not take care of us so I came to Accra. My family knows I am a latrine boy and they even encourage me to hang in there,’ Ndor said in a local Akan dialect.

His day starts at 2 am when the night is darkest, providing a perfect cover for him to clean up the two public toilets and empty the pan latrines.

This work is demeaning, yet to Ndor it is the only job that puts food on the table for his wife and three children. Ndor has done too well keeping this a secret.

‘I have three children and a wife. My wife sells Pito (local alcoholic brew) and tries to support me but 40 cedis a night is not enough to take care of our needs,’ he said.

Ndor doesn’t just carry the weight of latrine at night. At sunrise, he walks through the neighborhood bearing an even heavier weight – stigma.

Maybe carrying toilet has done a greater harm to Ndor than crippling his self-worth. It’s robbed him of his ability to dream of a working world away from toilet and the stench that envelopes his office.

‘I have no future plans. I pray that God gives me enough so that I quit this job but I don’t know what other jobs to do,’ he said.

As common with pan latrine men, smoking helps deal with the heavy stench but Ndor says he has never smoked so he inhales the heavy stench daily.

Toilet business is big business here in Old Fadama. People patronize the facility throughout the day and night. Workers are not willing to grant interviews but they told me it is lucrative. Patrons pay 50 pesewas (10cents) to use the facility and they are given newspapers as toilet papers. For people who prefer toilet roll they have to pay 70 pesewas but because they don’t want to pay 20 pesewas extra they use newspapers.

It is shocking to know that people rent enema syringe to purge their colon. To use enema syringe, patrons pay 1 cedi and are given concoctions which act as laxatives to clean their colon. The mere thought of hundreds of people renting and using one enema syringe is disturbing because it provides fertile grounds for serious infections yet many people in the slums do not care.

Unfortunately, not all persons in the slum can afford to pay and ease themselves. Many residents openly defecate in gutters that run through the community creating a serious health hazard.

The situation is not exclusive to the slum of Old Fadama which is home to about 100,000 people. In fact in 2017, Wateraid a non- governmental organization released a report titled Out of Order which pointed out that Ghana has about 85.7 percent of its population without decent toilet facilities and this equals about 23 million people who engage in the not too dignifying practice of relieving themselves in the open or in unsafe, unhygienic toilets.

The Supreme Court Ruling
Ndor has no idea that his job is illegal and that the Supreme Court has declared his job, as an assault on human dignity. This was after Nana Adjei Ampofo, a lawyer stampeded the Supreme Court in 2006 pleading with judicial powers to declare carrying human excreta a degrading and humiliating experience which should not be classified as work.

His plea was taken and the Supreme Court ordered the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to fashion out a plan to totally eradicate the pan latrine system by 2010.

“In fact when I was presenting my case I remember that many pan “latrine boys” in my hometown died of respiratory diseases and my plan was to save the boys from dying,”he stated.

The Public Health Director at the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Badu Sarkodie in an interview was alarmed that such a practice would persist in 2018. He was disgusted and stressed that the pan latrine system had negative implications on the health of “latrine boys”.

“In fact, these men are exposed to serious diseases like typhoid, hepatitis A and E and many other dangerous diseases” , he added.

The Supreme Court in a detailed ruling ordered the AMA to build 1,500 Kumasi Ventilated Improvement Pit (KVIP) and water closets across the capital for public use and financially assist people with latrines to convert into water closets. The Metropolitan Assembly again was asked to strictly enforce the prohibition of pan latrine facilities throughout the Accra Metropolis and prosecute owners of such facilities who fail to convert their facilities into water closet or KVIP facilities.

With effect from 8 July 2008, the AMA was ordered by the court not to grant any new building or development permits in respect of any structural or building plans that do not make adequate provision for water closet, KVIP or similarly approved facilities.

Nana Adjei Ampofo is unhappy that in spite of the elaborate ruling, pan latrines are still used in Accra even after a Supreme Court ruling.

“I have heard that the practice is still on-going and I would warn the AMA and if they fail to listen to me, I would go to court and cite them for contempt,” he vowed.

Government response

Nii Adjeo Sowah
The Accra Mayor Nii Adjei Sowah in an interview with Joynews said the story came to him as a surprise. He said the AMA identified about 40 pan latrine public systems in the slums of Old Fadama and worked hard at closing them down but unfortunately 7 pan latrine systems remained. “We will move there and close down the remaining public pan latrine facilities. Our officials will be mobilized and we would go there and close down the remaining pan latrines”.

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources Joseph Kofi Adda also in an interview with Joynews was scandalised that the pan latrine system was still operational. He said government will build about 11,000 toilet facilities in Accra to solve problems of open defecation and unsafe toilet facilities in the capital.

“By June, 2018 we should have about 5,000 toilet facilities built and we will make sure that some are built in the slums of Old Fadama. He added.

If such promises are not followed through, vulnerable people like Ndor would still be used to carry other people dirty business and they would be exposed diseases and they would die while trying to eke out a living.

Watch the video of the full documentary