Promotions at EPA on hold

The Board Chairman of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Prof. Vincent Kodzo Nartey has disclosed that transfers and promotions at the agency have been put on hold and that promotions which were effected over the last two years were being reviewed.

The review, he said, was being done by a sub-committee of the board –which would advise the board accordingly. The decision to put on hold transfers and promotions at the agency was believed to have been necessitated by media reportage that the process has been shrouded in secrecy.

The Enquirer, in its Tuesday 17th March 2015 edition, reported that the story of the EPA in recent times was a mix of “corruption, victimization, cronyism and sectionalism.” It further noted that there were “murmurings at the EPA over how laid-down procedures for promotions have been thrown to the ‘dogs’.”

The paper added that per its probe into happenings within the EPA –it found out that junior officers were being promoted “way over and above” senior officers “depending on one’s relationship with the management.”

Addressing a news conference last week Thursday, in Accra, Prof. Kodjo Nartey said the board has set up a committee to review and reconstitute the agency’s management team.

“With an eye towards ensuring that Regional, Zonal and District officers have a role in what the Head office staff does in their respective constituencies –the board has directed that henceforth, no head office staff should conduct business in the Regions, Districts or at Zonal levels without prior notice” he said.

Prof. Kodjo Nartey also used the platform to deny media reportage that the EPA is in bed with some Oil and Gas companies –especially those that help ferry its officials to the oil rigs for monitoring.

He said the movement of the EPA officials to the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah at the jubilee field is being monitored and governed by International Civil Aviation rules where petroleum exploration and operations are done offshore explaining that in such instances logistics are provided by the operators to enable officers to effectively carryout their monitoring duties.

“As much as the agency would wish to own its helicopter or rent one, it is financially not possible to acquire or rent a helicopter, therefore until EPA is in position to fulfill either one, it would continue to be transported by the operators’ helicopter for its monitoring and investigative work,” stated Kodjo Nartey.