Galamseyers Are Nation Wreckers; We Have To Punish Them – Sanitation Minister
Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources has bemoaned the activities of illegal miners on the environmental future of Ghana.
She called on law enforcement agencies to ensure persons found engaging in such acts are severely punished when she visited a section of the Offin River at Abompe in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region.
She expressed concerns over how the continuous pollution of water bodies by activities of illegal miners is affecting the operations of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).
The Minister said the GWCL is witnessing an increasing cost of water production at the treatment plants of the GWCL across the country due to the continuous pollution of water bodies by illegal miners.
“We have realized of late that the cost of producing water is going higher, and it is like there’s no end. That is why we are joining forces as a matter of duty with stakeholders like the chiefs, the youth, and legal small-scale miners to make sure we are all on one page as well as religious leaders to make sure we preserve our heritage meaning our environment, our lands, and our water resources. It is our duty. National Security says see something say something, we are adding do something,” she said.
Relatedly, the convenor of the media coalition against illegal mining, Dr. Ken Ashigbey, has expressed disappointment in President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for not ordering the arrest of the managers of Akonta Mining Company that belongs to the NPP’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako popularly called Chairman Wontumi from operating in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve in the Western Region.
Ken Ashigbey speaking on the development said Chairman Wontumi who has been confirmed to be involved in galamsey in the Nimiri Forest by the Ministry of Lands and the Minerals Commission is walking free.