By: Rachel Kakraba
Ghana is joining the rest of the global community to mark International Noise Awareness Day, today. The day is commemorated on the last Wednesday of April annually. It seeks to raise awareness on the effects of noise on the welfare and health of people.
Speaking to GBCGHANAONLINE, Media Relations Officer and Member of Eco-Conscious, a Ghanaian based environmental group, Ataa Kwaku, said this year’s commemoration will be used to raise awareness of Ghanaians that noise nuisance is a criminal offence and against Metropolitan and Municipal by-laws and EPA regulations.
“There are three agencies that are supposed to deal with noise. So it s not like Ghana is not interested in noise. We are, but enforcement is an issue. You are supposed to report to the police because it is a criminal offence, the Municipal and our district Assemblies, they also have a remit to deal with noise pollution and then there is the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. So these three stakeholder organizations have the remit to deal with noise.”
Adding on, he said “the challenge is that they often don’t want to do anything, they want to push over to the next agency. We have all the laws, the problem is enforcement” .
He said it is unfortunate that some Ghanaians have accepted noise making as part of social life. This he said makes many to suffer in silence.
“People who suffer from noise pollution often suffer in silence. So we thought this was a good opportunity to highlight noise pollution”
He encouraged the public to report cases of noise pollution as there are institutions to take care of their grievances.
“Be proactive, know that there are laws that deal with noise nuisance and please respond to them whether you go to the police, you go to the Assembly or EPA. Don’t be passive because it is a health hazard”.
He said the group as part of activities to commemorate the day, institutions mandated to deal with noise pollution will be sensitized to take charge.
One Response
I lived in a residential area in Dome and share a wall with a church. I have severally warned them about the dangerous levels of their noise but it has fallen into deaf ears. It has now got to the point of doing all night with microphones depriving my household sleep. My house was built before the church was established and the annoying part is that the owners of the church lives in Trasaco gated community so what on earth should they be making this nuisance which is now affecting both my husband and myself. I really don’t know what else to do. I hear stories about the EPA not doing anything about these people so I’m actually suffering in silence and it’s affecting my health.