The Member of Parliament (MP) for Suame in the Ashanti Region, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has alleged that chiefs in the various mining communities are aware of the illegal mining activities in their areas.
According to him, though the chiefs may not be the ones who gave out the lands to the miners, they enjoyed the proceeds of the activities, as the operators often paid homage to them.
The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs was speaking in an interview on Kumasi-based Oyerepa TV, this week.
“So, I think that we should be very revolutionary with this. Get the assemblies involved. Get the chiefs involved, because wherever such activity is taking place, the chiefs in those communities know…
“They enjoy the crumbs of the proceeds [of galamsey]. They may not have authorised them to come, but those people will pass through the palace… The assemblies also know,” he said in the Akan language. He, nevertheless, suggested that the chiefs be involved in the galamsey fight.
CUT DACF
The Leader of the Majority Group in Parliament, who also alleged that the various district assemblies were aware of the galamsey activities in their jurisdictions, suggested to the government to cut off common funds to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies where galamsey was thriving.
This approach, which he described as revolutionary, should be a new strategy the government should adopt to fight galamsey.
“My suggestion is that, if we want to be drastic with it [galamsey fight], we should get the chiefs in the districts involved, because the chiefs and the people in those areas are part of the galamsey problem. Every year, the government allocates funds to the assemblies for the Common Fund.
“I think I am being revolutionary, yeah! Every year, the government sends money to the districts [as] a Common Fund. Those of you (district assemblies) who will encourage illegal mining in your assemblies to destroy our lands and water bodies, that year the district, its chiefs, and people should be denied its share of the Common Fund.”
He believed the measure would put the assemblies and the chiefs on their toes to fight galamsey in their areas.
He also observed that if the mining companies had received the requisite legal permit to mine, the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) must ensure that their activities were not polluting the country’s water bodies.
He quoted the Constitution, which states that all minerals belonged to the state, but were entrusted into the care of the President, arguing that if people illegally mined and smuggled them out of the country, he feared the nation would not benefit from its minerals.
ODIKE’S ORDEAL
The allegation from the Suame MP comes weeks after Akwasi Addai Odike suffered the wrath of Asanteman for alleging that some chiefs in the region had their hands in the galamsey activity.
Apart from physical attacks on his properties, Odike was banished from the territory and even the radio station that gave him the platform was asked to shut down until they apologised.
The Founder and Leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Akwasi Addai Odike, after his ordeal, says he had lost all hope in the galamsey fight.
According to him, all stakeholders have shown little commitment to the fight against the menace.
“The fight against galamsey keeps failing, because successive governments are part of the problem.
“They extort money behind the scenes from these galamseyers [illegal miners]. I know what goes into these things. They pay their masters, who are the politicians, to stay away from them to enable them to do their nefarious activities,” citinewsroom reported.
