The Akrofuom District Assembly has adopted more effective strategies to complement government interventions in Operation Vanguard, Galamstop, Operation Halt I and Halt II to fight against the illegal mining menace in the area.
The District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr. Maurice Jonas Woode, disclosed in his Sessional Address at the General Assembly, that the Assembly was setting up an electoral area taskforce as a way to deal with illegal mining at Akrofuom.
Mr. Jonas Woode stressed that there was the need for a permanent taskforce whose members lived with illegal miners in the communities.
He said the taskforce would operate under three mandates which included identifying and registering all categories of miners in the electoral area; identifying the mining sites of these miners, and ensuring that the miners possess the requisite documents for their activities.
He reiterated the directive by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources for all owners, operators, and users of excavators to be registered in the District, and that upon registration, the owners would specify the purpose for which the excavator were to be used and their areas of operations.
The DCE implored owners of excavators in the district to heed the directive and register their excavators with the Assembly.
DCE Woode also revealed that the Assembly was to form a community-based social vice taskforce to address rampant teenage pregnancy.
He said membership of the community-based social vice taskforce comprised nananom (chiefs), churches, heads of families, and the Assembly, and tasked them to find solutions to children’s involvement in wake-keepings, gambling and wee smoking in the district.
The DCE further revealed that the Assembly had achieved an Internally Generated Fund revenue of GH¢734,323.31 against a budget of GH¢680,000 as at September 2022, and gave the assurance that revenue mobilisation would be boosted to increase budgeted revenue to GH¢750,000.
