People who litter the streets to be prosecuted
Accra, July 16, Ghanadot/GNA - The
Accra Waste Management Project (AWMP) on Thursday announced
that with effect from Monday, July 20, people who litter the
streets would be arrested and prosecuted.
“Offenders were liable to a maximum term of six months and a
fine of GH¢100.00 or both,” Mr Ebow Botwe, Chairman of the
Project said.
“There are laws that prevent people from littering but they
are not applied. We will leave no stone unturned in the
application of these laws and go to all length to make the
law work.”
Mr Botwe said this when his organisation, together with
representatives of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA),
conducted newsmen round the Korle Lagoon Restoration Project
site, to see the level of pollution of the lagoon, which is
a bane of the project.
The Korle Restoration Project is about three years behind
schedule because of the activities of the squatter community
at Sodom and Gomorrah residing along the banks of the lake.
The real problem is the Agbogloshie canal which is serving
as the dumping ground for all kinds of items, including
plastic waste, human excreta and garbage.
Another problem is the plastic wastes that flow into the
three canals during storms and end up in the lagoon.
Mr Botwe argued that if these plastic wastes were not well
disposed of, they would stall the project that was critical
to the modernization of the city.
He said the project proposed for consideration, community
labour to engage offenders to clean particular areas for a
number of days.
Mr Botwe said the project, which was formed by a consortium
of manufacturers and sellers of goods in plastics, had
provided 3,000 bins around the city and called on everyone
to dump all waste they produce into the bins to avoid
prosecution.
He said the number of bins would be increased to 6,000 in
few days.
Mr Botwe said they made some arrests recently but freed the
people after educating them, but since the behaviour of
members of the public had not changed the application of the
law was now imminent.
He said he was disappointed at the way the Sodom and
Gomorrah community was behaving and called on the government
to relocate the squatters immediately.
He said they would visit the project weekly to monitor
events until the right thing was done for the project to be
completed.
“Our mission is to ensure that the project is completed for
the benefit of the people,” he said.
Dr Simpson Boateng, Director of Accra Metro Public Health
Department, said the people of Sodom and Gomorrah would be
evicted soon.
GNA
