Ten street preachers and five people using a public address system to sell goods have received warnings from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) for violating the 2017 AMA Abatement of Noise Bye-Law and operating without a permission in the CBD.
On Friday, July 15, 2022, Public Health Officers of the Assembly descended into the CBD to enact the Abatement of Noise Bye-Law.
The Ghana Standards Protection Requirement for Ambient Noise Control Code GS 122: 2018 states that the permissible noise level within commercial areas should be 75 decibels (dbs) during the day and 65 dbs during the night. The Head of Public Affairs at the AMA, Mr. Gilbert Nii Ankrah, stated this during the exercise.
Residential, commercial, and light industrial zones should be 60 dBs during the day and 65 dBs at night, while.
He said that public preachers were required to get a street preaching licence from the AMA in accordance with Section 9 of the AMA Abatement of Noise Bye-Law, which requires them to carry out their operations between the hours of 8 am and 10 am while adhering to the acceptable noise level.
He said that such services must take place between 5 am and 10 pm and that churches and other religious organisations holding services are prohibited from playing music or preaching at services that are too loud to annoy nearby neighbours under the Abatement of Noise Bye-law.
"A person should not blast any musical instrument within 100 metres of a hospital, clinic, or other locations used for the treatment of illness, or a public library. A motor vehicle's horn shall also not produce unwanted noise," he continued.
He mentioned that the Assembly had just purchased new dosimeters to better manage noise in the city, and that anybody in violation of the Bye-Law is guilty of an offence and subject to a fine of up to 100 penalty units upon summary conviction.
He issued a warning to anyone using public address systems in the Central Business District to sell goods and to street preachers to be cautious of the noise they create within the city and to abide by the AMA Abatement.
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