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Henceforth, any Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive in whose jurisdiction acts of environmental degradation are recorded will be sanctioned, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr Henry Kwabena Kokofu, has warned.

Noting that Ghana was deteriorating into the worst state of environmental destruction, Dr Kokofu said the time to crack the whip on environmental offenders is now.

Citing the recent floods and filths that engulfed some parts of the country, he stressed that stringent measures would be taken to punish offenders, irrespective of their position in government in accordance with the law.

Mr Kokofu who was speaking at a stakeholder engagement with Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies (MMDAs) in Accra yesterday said it was the responsibility of state institutions to rather fish out persons guilty of committing environmental offences instead of looking on for the deterioration to continue.

He stated that the local government Act 2016 (Act936) placed a huge responsibility on the MMDAs to be responsible for the development, improvement and management of human settlement and the environment in the districts.

Explaining he said, section four of the Act also mandated the district assemblies to take the steps and measures that were necessary and expedient to execute approved development plans for their various districts.

Touching on the construction of edifices on waterways, the CEO stated that in the event of floods caused by the presence of such buildings, vulnerable people suffered alone when demolition exercises are carried out leaving authorities at the district assemblies who issued such permits to go scot free.

This, he said, was unfair, stressing that all persons responsible for playing roles which ended up resulting in any form of disaster must be made to face the law.

Mr Kokofu urged authorities of all district assemblies across the country to take environmental issues seriously by ensuring they went strictly according to the laws governing their operations.

“We must remind ourselves of our statutory roles to ensure that the environment in which we live is protected and preserved in order to sustain it,” he stressed.