Illegal miners destroy River Offin after invading forest reserves - Water Resources Minister devastated.
Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah, Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, has expressed her dismay at the high level of pollution in the Offin River caused by illegal miners.
This Minister was taken aback when she led officials from the Ministry and Ghana Water Company Limited on a visit to Abompeh in the Atwima Mponua District of Ashanti to witness firsthand the level of destruction caused by illegal miners to forest reserves.
According to Razak Baba, the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah, and her entourage viewed the highly polluted Offin River from a steel bridge leading to Abompe and adjoining communities in the Ashanti Region's Atwima Mponua District.
The trip was prompted by the recent arrest of illegal miners in the area by a task force formed by the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners in collaboration with the District Assembly.
During a two-day operation, the task force seized and destroyed 300 Chanfans used by illegal miners in their nefarious activities.
The Minister saw the level of destruction of the forest reserve near the river and abandoned equipment used by illegal miners from the steel bridge.
The representative of the Chief of Bedabour, Nana Akwasi Yeboah, commended the District Chief Executive and the task force for their quick response in apprehending the illegal miners responsible for destroying water bodies, farmlands, and forest reserves in the area at a mini-durbar attended by residents of adjoining communities.
Mr. Isaac Kofi Marfo, District Chief Executive for Atwima Mponua, pledged to protect water bodies and forest reserves under his jurisdiction and asked for the communities' support.
Engineer Dr. Clifford Braimah, Managing Director of Ghana Water Company Limited, stated that the activities of illegal miners posed a threat to "quality water production and supply from the Company's water treatment plants due to the increasing turbidity level in the country's water bodies."
Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah, Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, stated that "polluted water bodies cost the State huge sums of money to make potable and called for effective collaboration among stakeholders to defeat the nation wreckers."
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