WACAM makes proposal to strengthen EPA

Accra, Nov. 30, GNA - WACAM, a non-governmental environmental organization, has proposed that the Environmental Protection Agency adopt the 'polluter pays' system which is practiced internationally. Mr Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, Executive Director of WACAM explained that, under the system mining and manufacturing companies who degrade and pollute the environment are made by law to pay a pollution levy.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra on Monday, Mr Owusu-Koranteng said there should also be a strong regulation to debar people and companies from polluting and degrading the environment. He also said there should be a framework by which communities affected by mining operations could lodge complaints for redress. "The communities should also have the right to source reports on mining operations to government and the companies because it is unfair to restrict such reports to the two only," he said.

Mr Owusu-Koranteng said the EPA must be independent of government to avoid any suspicion, adding that, the way reports on mining operations were delayed was neither in the interest of the companies nor government. 30 Nov. 10