EPA advises on generator sets

Professor Vincent Kodzo Nartey, Board Chairman of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has advised Ghanaians to handle the use of generators properly to avoid any disasters.

He said in the face of the current electricity challenges that had pushed many Ghanaians to use generator sets at home, the issue of environmental pollution was real and so precaution should be taken to allow much ventilation at where the generators are kept as a safety measure.

He said fuel used for the generators should be kept from heat sources and from children while people should make the effort to put off generator sets before refueling them.

Addressing the media at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, Prof Nartey said the noise produced by such generators were also sources of concern and so people should ensure that they protect others from such excessive noise.

The press conference was to enable EPA respond to recent media reportage on the Agency’s “environmental assessment procedures, ammonium nitrate storage, the Green City initiative at Danfa, monitoring of oil and gas, transfers and promotions of staff, incidence of whales beaching in coastal areas of the country as well as alleged corrupt officers of the Agency.

Prof Nartey refuted all the allegations of wrong doings on the part of the Agency and said the Board together with management were working to restructure the Agency and to address all concerns raised by the media.

In a response to a question as to the state of relationship between the senior staff of EPA and their Executive Director, Mr Daniel Amlalo, Prof Nartey said there is “no bad blood between the staff of the Agency and its Executive Director. As far as I am concerned there is calm within the Agency”.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director, Mr Amlalo, has denied that he has been given a vehicle by a mining company.

“I have never been given a vehicle by any mining company, let such company come out and say so if they have given me any vehicle”, he said