No clear cut legal framework to check environmental offences - Omane-Boamah

Accra, March 29, GNA - Dr Edward Omane-Boamah, Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), on Monday expressed worry about the lack of national laws to check environmental offences and mismanagement. "There is no clear cut legal framework to check environmental mismanagement, so sometimes when confronted with a problem one does not know what decision to take," he said.

He, therefore, called on nongovernmental organizations and civil society organizations to support the amendment of the Minerals and Mining Act to ensure good environmental practices in Ghana. Dr Omane-Boamah was speaking at a forum that brought together various civil society organizations to review activities in the Natural Resources and Environment Sector.

"What have NGOs and CSOs done in the environment sector so far?" He wondered, and urged those organizations to take interest especially in the Minerals and Mining Act. He expressed regret that some of those organizations did not have the interest of the nation at heart and, therefore, took actions that did not promote the national interest.

Dr Omane-Boamah asked the NGOs and CSOs to back their actions with research and do a lot of reading in order not to misinform the public instead of educating them.

The Deputy Minister said there was a lot of talk about the oil find; however, it appeared as if Ghana was not prepared to confront the challenges that came with oil exploration.

He said the Ministry with the support of some donors was moving fast to put up a concrete plan that would enable the country to respond to challenges that would be encountered.

Ms Callisen Bang, Senior Governance Coordinator of CARE International, an NGO, emphasized the need for civil society organizations to collaborate and work together to avoid duplicating each other's work. "Different opinions are part of a democratic society but collaboration is also very important," she said.

Ms Bang said she hoped the forum would be an annual event to facilitate dialogue between the civil society, media and government. "Every year it will be held to feed into the Government's review of the Natural Resource and Environment Sector," she said.

Mr Tom Van der Zon, a representative of a group called Environment and Natural Resource Sector Group, urged civil society organizations to strengthen their roles in environmental sustainability issues. He said Ghana's environmental sanitation situation was not the best and that more needed to be done in the Sector.

Nana Nketsia V, Paramount Chief of Essikado, who chaired the forum, added his voice to the call for civil society organization to strengthen collaboration to enable them to contribute to the effective management of the environment 29 March 10