Agyeman-Rawlings Charges EPA on Enforcement, Transparency, Accountability

ACCRA, Ghana — The Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has charged the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to strengthen enforcement, prosecution, transparency and public accountability.

Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings gave the charge during a familiarisation visit to the EPA as part of her ongoing engagements with agencies under the Ministry. She was briefed on the Authority’s mandate, operations and challenges.

The Minister commended the EPA for managing what she described as a huge workload but said more needed to be done, particularly in securing successful prosecutions and convictions for environmental offences, including illegal mining and pollution.

“You have a huge duty, your mandate is huge and sometimes I wonder whether perhaps it isn’t a bit of a stretch expecting one authority to do all that you are doing but so far you seem to be managing the weight quite well,” Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings said.

“But there’s a lot more to do, there’s a lot more to do. I’m looking forward to a time when we will hear of successful prosecution and conviction of people who have been involved in illegality, whether it’s mining or whether it’s the pollution,” she added.

She also urged the EPA to make its operations more transparent and accessible to the public, saying openness would strengthen public confidence and address perceptions that environmental laws were applied selectively.

“I urge you to ensure greater transparency and accountability to the public. The public must know what you are doing. That helps to build trust, it helps to take away in people’s minds the fact that you apply the laws differently to different people or is favouring some over others,” she said.

Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings said systems should be developed to make it easier for the public to access information on the EPA’s activities, areas of operation, achievements and challenges.

The Minister also raised concerns over persistent sanitation problems, including the burning of rubbish in neighbourhoods, dumping waste into drains and indiscriminate littering, particularly around food-vending areas.

“Whether it’s going against the burning of rubbish in neighborhoods which is against the law but it’s still being done, whether it’s people throwing rubbish into our drains, wherever there’s food and people are cooking suddenly it becomes another place where rubbish is also accumulating – the issues around sanitation, there’s a wide range of issues,” she observed.

She commended the EPA’s public education initiatives and called for stronger collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), as well as increased environmental education in schools and greater use of social media.

“I’m very happy to see that you are engaging in greater public education. I would urge greater collaboration with the National Commission on Civic Education. Let’s make it the norm where the children keep hearing certain things because as you educate more children in the households, there’s a knock-on effect,” she said.

“Greater engagement in the schools, of course greater awareness in terms of using social media, you have so much at your disposal,” the Minister added.

She stressed that sustained public education and engagement were necessary to bring citizens on board as responsible partners in environmental protection.