Official calls for the review of by-laws on environment

Accra, Sept. 10, GNA - A senior programme officer at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr William Hayfron-Acquah, on Friday said there was the need for a review of bylaws on sanitation to ensure that punitive measures were brought against offenders who abused the environment.

He urged the Local Government Ministry to establish waste receptacles, urinals and decent places of convenience along areas such as the ministries to check the practice of throwing litters on the road. Mr Hayfron-Acquah was speaking on the topic: "Domestic waste management" at a professional development symposium organised by the Ghana Medical Association.

The meeting, which forms part of a continuing education programme for health workers in the southern sector, was on the theme, the impact of the environment on health."

Mr Hayfron-Acquah said there was the need for the mainstreaming of environmental sanitation into national planning.

He said the communities should also be prepared to pay for the disposal of waste just as was done for utilities, such as water and electricity.

He said a dirty and unsanitary environment was a disincentive to investors and could affect the tourism industry.

According to the environmental expert, Ghana was generating some 3.3 million tonnes of waste annually and called on civil society to help address the situation.

Mr Ebenezer Fiahagbe, an officer at EPA, who spoke on industrial waste, said some companies continued to flout laws on industrial waste management because there was very little pressure on them from the public.

Dr Kofi Adadey, former Greater Accra Director of Health, said addressing the health needs of the country was not the sole duty of the health ministry because there were many factors outside the domain of the sector, which impacted directly on health delivery.