Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has charged Ghanaians to sue it if they are dissatisfied with its work.
Public Relations Director of EPA, Angelina Mensah, said the EPA Act mandates citizens to bring a court action against the agency over poor services.
She said this on Joy FM’s Ghana Connect on Friday, October 13, 2017.
According to her, there is a new EPA that is committed to the public cause by ensuring that gas stations operate within the regulatory framework.
“It is not a nine-day wonder, as we align ourselves with the directives and we are going to deliver,” she assured Ghanaians.
She said effective today, Monday, October 16, 2017, Ghanaians will see EPA hitting the road running with new reforms, adding that the “EPA Act 490 mandated citizens to sue us.”
The agency has come under heavy criticism after a gas explosion at the Atomic Junction at Madina, Accra, which claimed seven lives last Saturday, October 7, 2017.
Questions have been asked why the EPA gives permits for what has been described as the indiscriminate siting of fuel stations, especially in residential areas, across the country.
Some 21 high-risk gas stations had been closed down before cabinet announced sweeping new measures after last week gas explosion.
This includes an indefinite ban on the construction of new facilities intended for use as gas or petroleum stations.
The EPA director of Public Affairs, however, accepted that the agency was partly responsible for the disaster.
“Why should one run away? We are not running away from what has happened,” she said.
But, she explained that the disaster happened during the discharge of gas at the station.
She said the EPA had no hand in the process of discharging the gas, adding that the gas station flouted the rules which debar it from discharging gas after 5pm.
According to her, EPA monitors fuel stations twice a year after it has granted permits to owners of those stations, charging Ghanaians to take responsibility for the environment.
“Environmental protection is a shared responsibility,” she averred.
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