Otunfuo warns chiefs over galamsey

THE ASANTEHENE, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has threatened to take appropriate traditional sanctions against any chief in the Asante Kingdom that will be found culpable for engaging or supporting illegal mining.

According to him, illegal mining, which is commonly known as ‘Galamsey’ in the local parlance, has the tendency of destroying the environment such as rivers and the forest, thereby causing undue challenges for the people.

The Asantehene, who is the 16th occupation of the sacred Golden Stool of Asanteman, stated that he would not tolerate any traditional leader under his jurisdiction that would stoop low and indulge in acts that threatens the environment.

“I will sanction any chief under my jurisdiction that would be found guilty for either Indulging in or supporting illegal mining and destroy the environment to put all our lives in great danger”, the Asantehene said during a public function.

The grand occasion was the Second edition of the Regional Consultative Small Scale Mining Dialogue at the Kwame Nktumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital, last week Thursday.

Virtually all the major stakeholders in the mining industry including traditional leaders, miners, government officials and the others, attended the programme where they shared ideas about what to do to make the small scale mining better.

The Asantehene said unfortunate acts, especially greed, should be discarded if indeed the country is eager to do away with illegal mining, adding that chiefs have a crucial role to play if the country wants to stop the illegal mining menace.

According to the Asantehene, he is not happy about the current practice whereby government officials award a concession license to a miner in the national capital of Accra, without contacting the chief who is the custodian of the land.

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, on his part, stated that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is more than determined to eliminate illegal mining in the country, saying that Galamsey would be defeated.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, in his succinct remarks, suggested that any government official that would be found culpable for engaging or supporting illegal mining “should be severely punished to served as deterrent to others”.

Just last month, the country’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, made a very strong statement on his reneved effort at fighting the Galamsey menace.

Speaking at the Consultative Dialogue on Small-Scale Mining, organized by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Nana Addo expressed hope that the consultative dialogue: “will build a national consensus around a national policy on small scale mining, that promotes a responsible, viable, environmentally sustainable small-scale mining industry, which has discarded the use of mercury, chanfans and excavators, which has barred the involvement of foreign nationals, and which has rejected the destruction of our forests, environment and water bodies.”

Whilst stressing that there is nothing wrong with mining, or trying to exploit the minerals the nation has been with, he explained that mining becomes problematic and dangerous, when methods employed pose a danger to the land, the water bodies, and the very lives of the people.

“Mining becomes a danger to the society when, after extracting the gold, diamond, or other stones and minerals, the land is left degraded and poisoned with toxic materials, the water bodies are turned into entities that can no longer support life, and plants and fish cannot survive in our rivers,” Nana Addo added.