AMA Prosecutes adb, Others for Contravening By-Laws

The Ablekuma Central District Sanitation and Motor Magistrate Court, has prosecuted nine institutions for contravening Sections 1, 2, 3 and 10 of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s (AMA) Waste Management by-law 1995.

They are Agricultural Development Bank (adb), the Korle bu Branch of the Ghana Private Transport Union (GPRTU), Abbosey Okai branch of Ghana Oil (GOIL), Samir Engineering Company, Prudential Bank, Access Bank and the Yellow City Hotel.

The court fined the nine institutions various amounts of money totaling GH¢2,280.00 equivalent to 190 penalty units for their refusal to register with the AMA Accredited Waste Management Contractor assigned to their areas of operation.

The Prudential bank, GOIL, GPRTU, adb and Samir Engineering were made to pay a fine of GH¢360.00 each, while Access bank and Yellow city hotel also paid GH¢240.00 each due to their efforts to register after the summons.

Mr. Edward Nii Ayi Okai, the prosecutor told the court presided by Madam Linda Amissah that the institutions failed to comply with the Assembly’s directive to register with its accredited Waste Management Contractor to collect their waste.

Madam Amissah in her ruling urged the offending institutions to be ambassadors of a clean environment while cautioning that anyone found flouting AMA by-laws would be made to face severe sanctions to serve as a deterrent to others.

She called on organisations that have not registered with waste service providers under the polluter-pay policy to do so.

A bench warrant was issued for the arrest of the Abossey Okai branch Managers of Ghana Commercial Bank and Best Point Savings and Loans for their failure to appear before court when they were summoned.

In another development, some 11 persons including; two women, have been arrested by the AMA for allegedly dumping household refuse on the Kaneshie section of the Accra-Kasoa Highway.

They are Janet Ganu, Constance Badu, Eko Kobina, Eric Mensah, Richard Asumani, Afamu Cyril, Theophilus Ashong, Evans Tettey, Kwaku Frimpong, Nii Okine and one other person who gave his name as Awudome Cemetery.

The suspects, who live in and around Kaneshie, were grabbed between 9:00pm and 4.30 am on Thursday when the officials of the Okaikoi South Sub- Metro carried out an operation with the assistance of the police.

Source: GNA