Mr. Ebenezer Appiah Forson, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Upper Denkyera East, has pleaded with chiefs, especially those in and around the Subin and Offin Rivers, to partner stakeholders in the area to fight against illegal mining in water bodies.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ engagement forum at Denkyira Bobinso, the MCE stated that illegal mining in water bodies in the area was costing the Ghana Water Company in treating water, thus affecting the supply of quality water to the people.
Stakeholders at the forum included the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Mineral Commission, National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Ghana Police Service, and Immigration Service.
They deliberated with the assembly members and nananom to find a lasting solution in the fight against illegal mining.
According to MCE Appiah Forson, the government could not continue spending huge sums of the taxpayer’s money to treat water only for it to be polluted by selfish individuals, hence the need to collectively fight against illegal mining in water bodies.
Mr. Kwabena Dankeri, Chairman of Dunkwa Small Scale Mining Association, expressed the Union’s commitment and readiness to collaborate with the assembly members and other stakeholders to ensure that those mining in water bodies stopped the practice.
He pleaded with the government to provide them with an outboard motor and a pick-up truck to help patrol the water bodies regularly to ensure that unscrupulous people did not get access to the rivers to mine.
Mr. Boakye Yiadom, Director of the EPA in charge of Obuasi, Jacobu, Denkyira East and West, called on all stakeholders to come on board and partake in patrolling the water bodies in the area to ensure that mining in and on the river banks were stopped.
Nana Kwadwo Agyemang Serbe II, Denkyira Abuakwa Abakomahene, called on nananom to join hands with the assembly members, EPA, Mineral Commission, and the security agencies to bring sanity on water bodies for the benefit of future generations.
He stressed the need for the Environmental Protection Agency to be supported by way of logistics to access the water bodies and forests to curb the galamsey menace.
