The sorry state of sanitation in the Cape Coast Metropolis is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.
The situation in many communities, particularly slums along the coast, makes them a hotbed of the lethal cholera outbreak and its explosion will be more devastating than Covid-19 ever was.
Already, the Cape Coast Metro Hospital, which is managing some of the cholera cases, has indicated that it has just seven beds at its treatment centre and therefore does not have the capacity to contain any massive situation.
Since November last year, the Metropolis has recorded 28 confirmed cases of cholera, according to Mr Samuel Kwabena Ofosu, the Metro Director of Health, who revealed that it costs the State some GH¢600 to treat one cholera patient.
Nonetheless, in highly populated places like Brofoyedur and Amanful, open defecation and heavily choked gutters are pronounced, a visit to the area revealed.

Many households with toilets have connected them to open gutters which are choked with silt and plastic waste.
Indeed, the seashore has become a dumping site and a defecation spot for most of the dwellers and the communities are swallowed by filth, chiefly plastic waste.
The Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly has arrested and put a few people before court for sanitation infractions, but they are not deterred.
The awful situation is compounded by an acute water shortage.
Furthermore, it has been established that waste collection by the assembly and its agents is a challenge.
When the Central Regional Minister, Mr Ekow Panyin Eduamoah led a team to visit some of the communities on Friday to assess the sanitation situation, he was greeted with a pungent smell.
The team members included Mr Bless Darkey, the Regional Coordinating Director, Mr Essuman Braimah, the Metro Coordinating Director, and the Metro Health Director as well as other officials.
The team spotted people casually cooking and selling around open gutters filled with excrement oblivious of the looming danger.
The Minister expressed utter shock at the situation and directed that immediate actions should be taken to alleviate the situation and ward off the cholera disease.
Mr Eduamoah was particularly worried about the economic consequences of the outbreak and its impact on the government’s development agenda.

“My concern is that the amount we are using to take care of the situation is too much. They come and get it for free, but somebody would have to pay for that, and it goes against our development activities,” he lamented.
In response to the outbreak, the Regional Minister announced that the upcoming Independence Day would be commemorated with a march against bad sanitation practices to promote sanitation in Cape Coast and Winneba.
He said the people should change their behaviour and be conscious of their environment.
“We are bringing back the monthly clean-up exercises to every last Saturday of the month to do general cleaning,” he added.
Mr Eduamoah further directed the Metropolitan Assembly to deploy tankers to supply water to citizens in the wake of acute water shortage in the area as part of the measures to stem the outbreak.
The Regional Minister appealed to churches and mosques to make cleanliness and behavourial change an integral part of their sermons to supplement the work of the environmental and sanitation departments and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to combat the disease.
“We want the pastors and imams to take prominent roles in the education and all other institutions must come on board. That is the only way we can get the information to the people,” he appealed.
The Minister and his team later visited the Metro Hospital to interact with cholera patients on admission.
Mr Ofosu, the Health Director, highlighted the dangers associated with cholera and entreated the public to practice frequent hand washing and keep their surroundings clean.