The Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Hon. Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has undertaken a familiarization visit to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) as part of engagements with agencies under her Ministry.
During the visit, Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings was briefed on the mandate, operations and challenges of the Authority.
She commended the EPA for managing its huge workload, but charged the Authority to do more in the areas of enforcement, prosecutions, transparency and public accountability.
“You have a huge duty, your mandate is huge and sometimes I wonder whether perhaps it isn’t a bit of a stretch expecting one authority to do all that you are doing but so far you seem to be managing the weight quite well,” Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings noted.
“But there’s a lot more to do, I’m looking forward to a time when we will hear of successful prosecution and conviction of people who have been involved in illegality, whether it’s mining or whether it’s the pollution,” she added.
The Minister urged the EPA to ensure greater openness in its operations to build public trust and erase perceptions of selective application of the law.
“I urge you to ensure greater transparency and accountability to the public. The public must know what you are doing. That helps to build trust, it helps to take away in people’s minds the fact that you apply the laws differently to different people or is favouring some over others,” she said.
She said there must be systems that make it easier for the public to access information on what the Authority is doing, where it is working, its achievements and its challenges.
Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings also raised concerns about persistent sanitation issues, including the burning of rubbish in neighbourhoods, dumping of waste into drains, and indiscriminate littering, particularly around food vending areas.
“Whether it’s going against the burning of rubbish in neighborhoods which is against the law but it’s still being done, whether it’s people throwing rubbish into our drains, wherever there’s food and people are cooking suddenly it becomes another place where rubbish is also accumulating – the issues around sanitation, there’s a wide range of issues,” she observed.
She commended the EPA’s public education drive and urged closer collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and intensified engagement in schools and on social media.
“I’m very happy to see that you are engaging in greater public education. I would urge greater collaboration with the National Commission on Civic Education. Let’s make it the norm where the children keep hearing certain things because as you educate more children in the households, there’s a knock-on effect,” she said.
“Greater engagement in the schools, of course greater awareness in terms of using social media, you have so much at your disposal,” she added, stressing the need to bring the public on board as responsible citizens.
