An environmental technologist has stated that it will be almost impossible to ban the use of plastics in Ghana.
Akua Akyaa Nkrumah argued that if the state has failed at enforcing existing laws on waste management and littering, then the state will fail woefully at enforcing the ban of plastics.
“You have laws that are in place already and they are not being enforced so if you place a ban on it, who is going to enforce that one?” she asked.
[contextly_sidebar id=”LSF7mms4oca8yTab38xsmjpcMRJGyL9m”]President John Mahama has served notice that his government may be forced to institute a ban on the use of plastics in the country if plastic waste is not effectively managed.
Prior to this, the Vice President, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur also called for a public debate on a possible ban of plastics following the devastating June 3 floods which claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed properties worth millions of Ghana cedis.
Currenlty, both the Odaw River and the Korle Lagoon are being dredged to allow the free flow of water.
Also, structures along the banks of these two river bodies have been demolished because according to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, the squatters have been dumping rubbish in the water bodies over the years; a practice that has been contributing to the perennial flooding of the capital city.
In an interview with Citi News, Ms Nkrumah noted that a lack of education on proper waste disposal means that people do not know that they are breaking the law.
She also mentioned that the public are unaware of the existence of institutions and officers who are in charge of ensuring environmental cleanliness and safety.
“A lot of people tend to think that we haven’t been educated on what we should do and that is true but when we all have not been involved, of course, it will not work” she said.
Citing an example to buttress her point, Ms Nkrumah said: “For instance, a lot of people don’t know that in AMA, every sub-metro has an Environmental Health officer, they don’t who she is or who he is, they don’t know where to report if they have an issue, they don’t see them going around doing their duty and when that problem is not fixed, and people are not aware of the law, they aren’t aware of what the penalty is when they do the wrong thing, then if you say there is going to be a ban of plastics, who is going to enforce that?”
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By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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