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COMMUNITY ELDERS ARE WORSENING THE CASE OF GALAMSEY IN GHANA _LANDS MINISTER

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2 years ago



The Minister for Lands and generally Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor for all  intents and purposes is blaming Chiefs, District Security Councils, very Mineral Commission officials, and regional authorities for the worsening kingdom of illegal mining in the country in a big way. 

According to him, irrespective of enforcement efforts by using the government, the galamsey scenario will not improve if human beings in mining communities do no longer help authorities in addressing the menace. 

Government appears to be struggling to tackle the difficulty of unlawful mining in Ghana, as many people proceed to get concerned in it. Vast lands have been destroyed, and water bodies have now not been spared. 

The things to do of these unlawful miners are very seen in a range of mining communities, as the stage of devastation speaks volumes. 

In an area such as Manso Datano in the Amansie South District of the Ashanti region, lands  have been damaged by these minners . This is common in many mining communities in the Ashanti Region and other mining areas.

Citing the Manso Datano case as an example, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor said it is curiously obvious that a range of stakeholders such as chiefs, and district and regional authorities amongst others have been helping the activities. 

“I come from a palace and I can say without a shred of equivocation that in most cases, no one, and I repeat, no one can bring a chain saw to harvest in the forest or an excavator to mine in the bush or chanfang to work on a river body in a community without the knowledge, acquiescence or passive approval somehow of the Chief, Elders, the assemblymen, opinion leaders and or local authorities in the community. We have to begin to be blunt about this situation on our hands. It is the honest truth and, sadly for me, I am having to say it and do so publicly. Ladies and gentlemen, you may have heard that on Thursday 29th September 2022 on behalf of the president of the republic, I paid a working visit to our men and women in uniform–the operation halt two team in Manso Datano in the Amansie South District.”

”I was shocked by what I saw. Almost a whole community has been created in the heart of the forest with poultry and goat rearing, beds, a kitchen, and bathrooms among others. The devastation must have been occasioned by years, if not decades of destruction. The question I ask is, how could this have happened on the blind side of the Chief, elders, assemblymen, unit committee members, district police commander, district chief executive, district officers of the minerals commission, forestry commission, environmental protection agency and the members of the community? I do not seem to tarnish the reputation of any person or institution, but I dare say that even regional authorities may not be able to escape from this particular situation and feign ignorance of it”.


The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources made these statements at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) at its college of renewable herbal assets 40th Anniversary celebration. 

The Asantehene’s consultant at the event, Asakyirihene, Nana Mensah Bonsu used the event to urge college students and college contributors at the school of renewable herbal resources to lookup into finding the best approaches of addressing the illegal mining issue. 

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