It has emerged that persons who indulge in small scale illegal mining also known as galamsey, do not only operate during the day, but also at night.
According to the Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, who made the revelation in an exclusive interview with Host of the Citi Breakfast Show, Bernard Avle, when the illegal miners are prevented from operating during the day, they continue when everyone is asleep.
“These guys have come from Mali, Niger, China and when we stop them during the day time, at night they go to work. So you may see a place where there is no destruction, but by the time you wake up…it’s been mined. Within two hours, these guys can do whatever damage they want to do,” he lamented.
They Okyenhene took advantage of the interview to also dismiss allegations leveled against him by some of his subjects that he engages in the illegal activity within the Akyem Abuakwa states.
Ofori Panin rubbished the claims and described his critics as either having “small minds” or being “mischievous.”
“It’s either people are ignorant, or they have small minds, evil, mischievous, or playing or they are stupid to think that I will be involved in this [galamsey]. I grew up in Akwaita, I saw the destruction there after I came back from overseas. I saw the destruction in Tarkwa and Bogosu, I had been around this country, there is no town that we can represent and say that there was gold here and that town had benefited. So why anybody with my education and my reputation get down and tolerate this. When you see good people and they are honest and they go out and do their own things, it is different things from people obeying you and seeing your authority and going underneath to do something else,” he added.
The chief made the comment on the back of intense pressure which has been mounted on government in recent times to stop illegal miners from polluting water bodies and farmlands.
Analysts have predicted that Ghana may soon import water if the trend persists.
This is because a number of water treatment plants have been shut down because their source of water has been rendered useless due to galamsey activities.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
