Political will needed to stamp out defecation along Indian Ocean Coastline

The diseases, according to World Health Organization (WHO), predominantly affect children and the poor – the less privileged in communities – mainly the rural population, where public social services are not adequately provided.

WHO, says an estimated 2.2 million people die annually world wide from diarrhoeal diseases, with most of such deaths occurring in children in developing countries, normally before attainment of five years (WHO report 1999).

“Once pathogens have been introduced into the environment, they can be transmitted via the mouth, through food or drinking contaminated water,” according to the global health institution.

Human excreta, particularly, contain high concentration of excreted pathogens - millions and millions of them, only visible through use of microscope.

The best way to reduce transmission of the pathogens is through adequate personal hygiene in household and at community level, says WHO.

But for ages, communities living along the coastline in Tanzania have not been able to abide by this vital requirement. Most of them, from Tanga to Kilwa, defecate indiscriminately on India Ocean shores.

Normally, defecation is done under mangrove trees - kind of plants which only grow along sea territory. The perceived idea is that once the ocean is at high peak – with waters ebbing nearest households built near the shores, the faeces would be carried to deep seas.

But even then, humans become infected when they eat fish, some of which will have consumed the excreta as relish. It becomes even worse when the fish are partially cooked.

“What we believe in, is that once the faeces which are deposited on th shores after nightfall, they are not dangerous to human life because no pathogens can resist salt water in the sea,’ Omari Hussein, a resident of Vyeru village in Monga Ward, Mkinga District told The Guardian full of confidence.

In fact, not only Vyeru, but most villages situated a few metres on India Ocean’s territory, do not maintain basic sanitary installations – latrines. In Tanga, they include Chongoleani, a village boasting of a modern health centre, which stand only about 50 metres from the sea shore.

At Chongoleani, there are hardly a dozen latrines. “A few houses here, have latrines, but these are for use by people coming to visit here from towns,’ Mwinyiusi Hamadi revealed to this scribe during a brief visit there.

So far, pollution control experts attribute failure of the community to build latrines to difficult soil conditions in areas neighbouring the sea.

“We had a programme under Sustainable Tanga Programme (STP) to sensitize people along the sea shore to build household latrines. But in the process, we came across hurdles, one of the challenges being difficult conditions in some areas,” said a Tanga City Council (TCC) Official.

“During the process, we found out that the land was not habitable due to the fact that it was very close to the sea,” he reveated.

“In most households built a couple of meters away from the sea area, the water table is high, so much that when a latrine is built, it collapses in no time, rendering the exercise useless”.

Geoffrey Tumaini, another city council official said the challenge facing the exercise is the reluctance of people to change their mindset. “In our itineraries, part of sensitization programme, we discovered that the people in almost all villages along the Tanga coast line, did not even use the pilot latrines build by DANIDA, under the STP.

A local government official at Kichalikani, another settlement next to Vyeru, – Mkinga District, says most residents do not see the necessity to build latrines where the sea is only a few metres to their homes, adding that the practice was an age old tradition.

A city based civil engineer concurred with some of the reasons advanced by the villagers from different locations. “Most parts of the coastal strip has silty land – common along the sea shore; in such places, the water level varies depending on locations; for the nearer you are to the shore, the shallower the water table,” he explained.

“All this needs political will, necessary to ensure adequate public services and maintenance of sanitation systems,” he quipped, meaning that the government willing, it can always find ways to solve the problems facing the fishing community, as far as building of latrines is concerned.

“The women, main users of the sanitation facilities, must be involved in sanitation development –right from design stages.” Unfortunately, in the case Tanga Coastline, political will evidently seems to lack, somehow, somewhat.

History says in 2010, International Sanitation Day, held in Tanga at national level, Said Said Kalembo, then Regional Commissioner, issued a directive at Tangamano grounds calling for a halt to the shameful misbehavior – one of defacting, unashamedly at the Indian Ocean.

He told a mass rally,“I direct District Executive Directors (DEDs) - all over the region, to ensure that every household has a sanitation unit (an improved excreta disposal) henceforth”.

An almost half dozen years now, the chief’s order has been set aside – unimplemented , not only on the peripherals, but even at the heart of the city.

The scenario takes this scribe back to what the country’s retired Chief Executive; Prime Minister Peter Kayanza Pinda said when he was handing over office to his successor on November, 31 last year.

“You [Majaliwa Kassim Mjaliwa] have to act keenly, and ensure that your directives are adhered to and implemented in time,” said Pinda.

He added, “During my tenure at the office, there had been unnecessary delay in implementation of my directives at the lowest echealons; something which should be looked into, seriously,’ meaning he did not want his successor to tread on wrong footing, the same way he did.

Analysts say without local interest, involvement and commitment, facilitation of the units may be difficult; for even if the structures are built, they may remain unused or fall out of use.