Okaz IF ever one has to to visit a government department, necessitated by a case involving you or your family, don't be surprised or angry if you find yourself looking for a toilet, when the need arises, and not finding one. All the available bathrooms would have been earmarked for management or employees and closed to public. People visiting these departments do not even get this basic service. Even if a toilet were available, it would be very, very bad, poorly maintained and lacking in hygiene with odors emanating from it due to extreme use. In fact, an individual confirmed to me that some visitors to government departments sometimes defecate in the nearby street corners because the nearby mosques do not open until just before noon prayers and then shut down immediately after the prayer. People face issues with no public toilet facilities and add to that the lack of public water in the streets, triggering further hygiene problems. This behavior is really shameful! As for government departments, which shut down its toilets, they either do it because they believe they do not need to provide such services even if there are people who struggle with diabetes and need to use the toilets frequently. Agreed, the number of available toilets is not enough, but the staff — not to mention their supervisors — who each have reserved a bathroom for themselves can graciously give up some of the bathrooms to the public. I've been through the experience of the lack of toilets during a visit to a governmental department and, I protested because I wanted to do my ablutions in preparation for the noon prayer. I searched in different department only to find all the bathrooms closed. I went out to the nearest mosque where the foul odors rip your heart out of your chest and prayed in the mosque and returned in search of the employee who had my paperwork. His colleagues, after courteously asking me whether they could be of any help, informed me that the person had gone to school to pick up his children and I would need to come tomorrow.
