The Accra Metropolitan Assembly's (AMA) Public Health Unit, has trained 20 prosecutors for the Environmental Sanitation Courts to be operational in July 2010, with a call on them not to compromise their positions in the course of rendering services to the state but ensure fairness to all.
Miss Selina Fenteng, the AMA Solicitor and Resource Person who made the call, took the participants through prosecution and criminal procedures as well as case presentation.
She urged them not to think of what they would gain, but what they would give in their capacities as prosecutors.
Miss Fenteng said since prosecutors play important roles in the justice system of any country, they should be equipped with the requisite knowledge in basic laws and bye laws.
She said "you must know the applicable laws that you are going to use and find out which sections of those laws address the nuisance committed by the offenders, to avoid any embarrassment at the courts".
"The joy in knowing the law enables you to stand on your feet in the court, adding that, you must also be principle and not to bend the laws or compromise your position," she said.
Miss Fenteng noted that people within the metropolis did not obey environmental health laws, which was the basis of the poor waste management and lack of sanitation in Accra.
She expressed the hope that the prosecutors would accept the challenges and work hard to enhance the job assigned to them.
Dr Simpson Anim Boateng, Director of AMA public Health Unit, urged residents to take up the responsibilities of ensuring a clean environment to
avoid arrest and prosecution, and also desist from dumping refuge into drains.
He reiterated the fact that the Metropolis faced grave sanitation problems daily, and warned that any health officer who would be found
wanting would be sanctioned.