A man who identifies himself as Charles Owusu who claims to be the
relative of the late Chief Executive Officer for the Forestry Commission has
been embroiled in illegal mining ongoing in the Taabosere enclave in the
western region.
In a report filed by
Multimedia’s Erastus Asare Donkor, Charles Owusu is heard calling upon the
taskforce in charge clamping down on illegal mining to leave the concession.
According to the site
supervisor, whose name was given as Umar, they are working with the permission
of some influential “big men” in the country.
In all, the team towed 10
excavators from the site, also seven Chinese miners were transported to Accra
where they will be prosecuted.
Meanwhile, the President of
Ghana said in his final State of the Nation Address in his first term in office
that there is the need for an open conversation on the galamsey fight.
“There is one subject…I believe
we the people need to have an open conversation, and that is the phenomenon of
galamsey. Should we allow or not allow galamsey,” President Akufo-Addo said.
“The illegal mining, that leads
to the pollution of our water bodies and the devastation of our landscape. As I
have said often, the almighty haven blessed us with considerable deposits of
precious minerals there will always be mining in Ghana, indeed there has always
been mining in Ghana. The problem we have is the use of modern technology that
leads to the illegal mining menace posing serious dangers to our water bodies
and the health of our environment. The pollution of our rivers and water bodies
has been so acute on occasions that the Ghana Water Company Limited is unable
to afford the distilling of water to make for safe drinking,” Nana Akufo-Addo
noted.
“We have to talk about galamsey. We who are leaders owe it to
the country to take the subject out of the party political area and have an
honest conversation about this menace to our future,” he added.
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