Ghana: Galamseyers are nation destroyers; we must punish them – Sanitation Minister
The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has expressed concern about the impact of unlicensed miners on Ghana’s environmental future.
According to her, it is past time for the country to begin severely punishing people involved in galamsey since they are nation destroyers.
When she toured a part of the Offin River at Abompe in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region, she urged on law enforcement officials to ensure that anyone found engaged in such actions be severely punished.
She voiced concern about how illegal miners’ ongoing polluting of water sources is harming the Ghana Water Company Limited’s operations (GWCL).
The Minister stated that the GWCL is experiencing an increase in the cost of water production at its treatment plants around the country as a result of the continual polluting 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.
In a related development, Dr. Ken Ashigbey, convenor of the media coalition against illegal mining, has expressed disappointment in President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for not ordering the arrest of the managers of Akonta Mining Company, which belongs to the NPP’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, from operating in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve in the Western Region.
Chairman Wontumi, who has been certified by the Ministry of Lands and the Minerals Commission to be involved in galamsey in the Nimiri Forest, is now free, according to Ken Ashigbey.
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