Seven excavators seized in Amansie West for engaging in galamsey
President Akufo-Addo, in his burning desire to rid our forests, farms and water bodies of mining activities which cause death to the environment as well as the people living in areas where illegal mining activities are rampant, has taken steps aimed at safeguarding the country and the future generation.
His efforts have been lauded both locally and internationally as some countries have declared their intentions to copy the good example of Ghana in this battle against illegal mining popularly called ‘galamsey’.
However, activities of certain individuals are drawing back these efforts to root out galamsey from our communities.
The Amansie Central district is home to the activities of some high powered and known galamseyers. The Task Force from the Office of the President, Jubilee House which is working under the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) was in the Amansie Central District, Gyaman to be precise in which they were alerted by a Good Samaritan on some ongoing galamsey activities in their forest.
Though nobody was captured when the Task Force reached the area, the evidence they gathered confirmed the information given to them.
They discovered, much to their dismay, a wooden structure with four rooms which appear to house the galamseyers whenever they go to the site.
Five excavators were found on the sites, 150 cartridges and one gun were also found. There was one giant poly tank containing diesel and 15 smaller tanks also containing diesel used to fuel the excavators. One washing plant and water pumping machines were also discovered. This happened in a town called Gyaman near the Offin River on 7th November 2018.
In the same district, on Monday, in a town called Yiwabra, another incident occurred in which two excavators were seized though the culprits managed to flee. The Task Force got two passports which belong to some Chinese. When this place was finally discovered by the team, the entire town was plunged into wild jubilations.
Credible information gathered suggested that the Gyaman area where galamsey goes on has some powerful hands helping the kingpin behind the galamsey in the district. The site and the excavators are all believed to belong to Aisha Huan, the notorious galamsey top banana. She visited the site the day before this operation, according to the informants.
The fight against galamsey, though has been going on with a greater level of success achieved, the activities of some top persons in the communities are impeding these strenuous efforts.
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com
