Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah who led a task force from the Nzema East Municipal Security Council on Monday embarked on an operation to rid of illegal small-scale miners from the Ankobra River.
The exercise which was conducted in the early hours of 10:00 am to 3:00 pm was carried from the Ampansie to Dominase stretch of the river following reports of ‘galamseyers’ returning to mine illegally.
The security team and task force carried out the burning of some seventeen (17) Changfang machines which were being used at night along the stretch of the rivers.
The regional minister, speaking with GhanaWeb after the operation was carried out said, the security council had gathered intelligence that the illegal miners were back operating at the site hence their resolve to move in and remedy the situation.
“On Sunday, August 15, 2021, we gathered information concerning an illegal mining operation on the Ankobra River, so I led a team made up of a taskforce to successfully demolish all the equipment’s being used i.e., changfans, canoes, etc", he disclosed.
“I want to use this opportunity to state unequivocally that we will continue to fight the illegal mining activities in the Western Region and nothing will stop us” Darko Mensah assured.
The Regional Minister who is the Chairman of the Western Regional Security Council, therefore, urged the general public assist the Council with the necessary information concerning the activities of ‘galamseyers’ in the region for actions to be taken.
“It is a collective agenda therefore let us not relent on giving out information on those activities to the immediate district or Municipal Assembly. We assure the good people of Western Region that we are committed as a government to fighting this menace and to protect our water bodies”.
The Western Regional Minister took the opportunity to commend the Nzema East Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Frank Okpenyen who received the information and responded swiftly.
“I want to thank Frank Okpenyen, Nzema East MCE for his timely response and support which is very laudable”, he concluded.
The MCE for the area, Frank Okpenyen on his part bemoaned their inability to arrest any persons involved in the illegal activity as they fled before they task force arrived at the scene but promised that they would continue to investigate and arrest any persons found culpable.
“We are warning those who don't think about this country to stop mining on Ankobra River and all forests in Nzema East because whoever will be arrested will face the law, we cannot continue to destroy our river bodies because of money, we have a Community Mining programme here so anybody who needs money should go there and stop participating in galamsey on the Ankobra River”, Okpenyen stated.
