The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Samuel Jinapor, has hinted that the Geological Survey Department would be carrying out an exercise in the Volta Region to determine if minerals such as gold, diamond and others would be discovered.
According to Mr. Jinapor, nobody anticipated that gold could be found in the Upper East Region, but today, the precious mineral was being mined in commercial quantities in the area, after intensive surveys.
He was hopeful that a similar situation could occur in the Volta Region, and, therefore, called on the chiefs to support his Ministry in looking for gold.
Addressing the Volta Region House of Chiefs on the first day of a three-day visit to the Volta and Oti regions, the Minister said the Volta Region was facing serious environmental degradation such as sand winning activities and illegal timber logging, which, according to him, must be stopped.
Mr. Jinapor also disclosed that the Ministry would soon engage the Boundary Commission to look into issues concerning major re-demarcation exercise between Ghana and the Republic of Togo, and called on the chiefs in the Volta Region to cooperate and support the Commission when the time comes.
The Minister said this would help prevent any boundary dispute between Ghana and Togo, which were already facing some challenges. He admitted that Ghana had big problems when it comes to land management, and that collaboration between the chiefs by his outfit would help address some of these problems.
The Minister further told the chiefs that they were custodians of the lands, but the Constitution had also vested powers in him to issue out licenses to individuals and companies which wanted to prospect for gold.
He, however, assured the chiefs that in exercising the powers vested in him, he would consult them before any major decision was taken.
The President of the Volta Region House of Chiefs, Togbe Tepre Hodo, stressed the need for collaboration and cooperation between the Ministry and chiefs to be made practical.
He further said that there were beautiful laws in Ghana, but the problem was with the implementation of these laws and ideas, noting that under the new Chieftaincy Act, chiefs had power to take certain actions in land management, therefore, the Ministry should support the traditional rules in that respect.
The Paramount Chief of Avatime Traditional Area, Osie Adzatekpor, on his part, told the Minister that the new land law had not brought about any significant change to the old, and that families still controlled lands, especially in the Volta Region.
He called for the creation of stool lands in the region, which should be managed by the government. This, he noted, would go a long way to reduce illegal chainsaw operation and bush burning.
He alleged that people occupying high offices in the country were behind the chainsaw and that the fight against the menace would be a mirage if these people were not reined in.
Osie Adzatekpor commended the efforts being made to resolve the international boundary disputes, but noted that similar situations currently existed internally, and called on the government to deal with them before focusing on matters beyond our borders.
The Paramount Chief of Tefle Traditional Area, Togbe Nakakpo Dugbaza, said the situation where chiefs were always referred to as custodians of lands in the country without any legal provisions to empower them was very unfortunate.
He, therefore, called for laws that would clearly recognise chiefs as the owners of the lands.
