By tntnewspapergh.com
Despite several efforts made by the government, traditional authorities, civil society organisations and the media to collaborate in fighting illegal mining (galamsey) activities in the country, the menace is getting out of hand.
Deployment of armed military personnel to most galamsey sites in the country in the past has not yielded success, although earth-moving mining equipment, such as excavators, chanfang, etc., were set ablaze, whilst arrests were also made by armed military taskforce in order to deter and prevent illegal miners from operating.
Some scenes of galamsey activities
Many Ghanaians wonder why these illegal miners operate with impunity and without fear. Most Ghanaians think that the taxpayers’ monies which were used for the deployment of the armed military taskforce have been wasted on the galamsey fight.
A few days ago, a team of journalists went to Sefwi Maanse in the Bibiani Anwhiaso Bekwai Municipality of the Western North Region, where illegal miners, both Ghanaians and foreigners, are causing massive destruction to the forest reserve in the area with a number of excavators, without fear of being arrested by the security agencies.
The illegal mining activities in the community are so alarming that the river bodies that pass through the area have been polluted.
One may wonder how these earth-moving equipment (excavators) manoeuvred to find their way to the community to operate.
A similar development is also ongoing at Sefwi Aboabo in the same Bibiani Anwhiaso Bekwai Municipality, where the activities of these illegal miners have also polluted the Ankobra River that passes through the area, thereby posing threat to human health because most of the residents use the river for their household chores and for farming. Besides, they rely mostly on it as their source of drinking water.
Most of the residents, who interacted with the team of journalists in the communities visited, blamed the authorities of the Bibiani Anwhiaso Bekwai Municipal Assembly, headed by Mr Paul Andoh, for not doing their work well.
They asked, “How come the Municipal Assembly still exists and the authorities still behave as if they are not aware of the illegal mining or galamsey activities going on in most communities within the municipality?”
The residents further hinted that the illegal miners claimed they went to see the authorities of the Municipal Assembly before carrying out their activities; hence, it is difficult for any member or resident in these mining communities to prevent them from operating.
The residents revealed further that the traditional authorities in the Bibiani Anwhiaso Bekwai Municipality had also made several efforts to bring the activities of the galamseyers to a halt through their paramount chief, who is also the President of the National House of Chiefs, His Royal Highness Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi II.
He has also threatened to destool and call for the arrest of any chief under him who is involved or will involve himself in illegal mining activities.
All efforts to get the MCE for the area for his comments on the illegal mining activities in the area as of the time of filing this report proved unsuccessful.
