Fmnewsonline.com can confirm that the current administration of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has set out to empty the EPA’s Account over what some insiders referred to as a politically motivated staff transfer across Regions without recourse to “proper consultations”.
Insiders say, “It is disturbing that most of the affected staff were not consulted before the release of the list. This lack of engagement contravenes best administrative practices and undermines the dignity and rights of staff.”
They mentioned that Staff engagement is not optional; “it is essential for transparency, buy-in, and effective implementation of organizational change”, according to the rules of engagement.
fmnewsonline has the full report and the “List of Staff Reassigned-26 June 2025”, made up of about 120 persons to either been moved from the National Headquarters to Regional Offices or from Regional Offices to the National Headquarters without any explanation (s).
In a statement to Staff by the Public Services Workers’ Union (PSWU-TUC), Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) Division and the EPA Senior Staff Association (EPASSA) on the recent Staff reassignment directive dated on Wednesday, 2nd July 2025 said, “Our preliminary estimates indicate that this exercise will cost the EPA an estimated amount of GHS 7.3 million in transfer-related expenses-these include three months’ gross salary as transfer grants per affected staff, 21 days of full overnight allowance, 61 days of half overnight allowance, and transport for staff and their families as per Article 43 (iv) of the Collective Agreement”.
The statement said, such a financial commitment raises serious questions in this time of economic austerity, especially considering other pressing needs of the Authority.
The statement which seeks to response to the staff reassignment letter dated 26th June 2025, and the accompanying list of affected personnel further argued that the leadership of the PSWUTUC of EPA and EPASSA deemed it necessary to clarify several issues arising from the said communication and proceeded to outlined their strong position on the matter as follows: Misrepresentation of consultation with Union and EPASSA-“First and foremost, we wish to firmly state that the claim in the letter that “extensive consultations” were held with the Union and the EPASSA is not accurate. At no point were either the PSWU-TUC or EPASSA adequately engaged in a consultative process or meeting concerning this major human resource action. This misrepresentation undermines the principles of collaboration and trust that should underpin staff-management relations within the EPA”.
They also noted with concern the ambiguous use of the term “reassignment” in the letter because “upon reviewing the staff movement list, it is evident that most of the changes involve the relocation of staff across different regions and area offices, which constitute “transfer” as per the Collective Agreement and the EPA Conditions of Service. This has led to unnecessary confusion and raises questions about the intent and clarity of the communication”.
