‘EPA gets ready to be weaned-off government’

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it is taking various steps to wean itself off government subvention this year in line with government directives.

“The Agency is reorganizing the structure of EPA and reorienting the thinking of staff to ensure a paradigm shift,” Professor Vincent Kodzo Nartey, Board Chairman of the EPA announced on Thursday.

Addressing the media in Accra, Prof Nartey said the Agency was also restructuring its management team to be able to help move EPA to the new level.

Prof Nartey said other measures being put in place included intensified education and awareness initiatives to enhance public understanding of their responsibilities towards the environment, as well as measures to promote compliance enforcement, and improve permitting process.

The press conference was to enable the EPA to 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 assured the public that the Lavender Hill, would soon be restored as the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) was currently complying with the court order to move the disposal of feacal waste from that section of the city.

Clarifying issues on the Green City project, Prof Nartey said the EPA Board had decided not to go ahead with the project but instead focus on completing other projects in their regional, district and zonal offices to help strengthen the EPA’s presence at the grassroots.

On promotions and transfers, the Board Chairman said a sub-committee had been set up by the Board to review all transfers, which had been held over two years now while putting on hold current promotions and transfers.

Prof Nartey further stated that, aside the three-man Technical Committee set up by the Sector Ministry to probe allegations on the Agency’s Environmental assessment procedure, the Board has also put in place an interim sub-committee, representing relevant stakeholders to review and authorize the issuance of environmental permits after work had been done by the technical committee within the Agency.

He refuted allegation that the EPA was in bed with oil and gas companies and therefore did not monitor the companies to work according to the laws of the country, saying that the EPA was not compromising on its enforcement and compliance duties.

He explained that, as a practice the world over and governed by International Civil Aviation rules, where petroleum exploration and operations are conducted offshore, logistics are provided by the operators to enable officers perform their regulatory duties.

Therefore, as EPA does not have a helicopter, it would continue to be transported by the operator’s helicopter for monitoring and investigative work until it acquires its own means of transport, Prof Nartey said.

Prof Nartey said the issue of increase in whale beaching was being addressed contrary to the media report that the EPA was not doing anything about the situation.

He said the EPA has started monitoring activities of the Oil Companies to see whether it has any impact on the increasing number of whales dying at the beaches and take appropriate measures to address it.