Only stupid and evil people will say I condone galamsey - Okyehene

Okyehene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin has slammed critics who have made claims that he's unconcerned about illegal mining aka galamsey.Speaking in an interview with Accra basd Citi Fm, the traditional ruler such persons as stupid and evil to suggest that he [Ofori Panin] wikll support illegal mining.

“It’s either people are ignorant, or they have small minds, evil, mischievous, or playing or they are stupid to think that I will be involved in this [galamsey]. I grew up in Akwaita, I saw the destruction there after I came back from overseas.

I saw the destruction in Tarkwa and Bogosu, I had been around this country, there is no town that we can represent and say that there was gold here and that town had benefited. So why anybody with my education and my reputation get down and tolerate this. When you see good people and they are honest and they go out and do their own things, it is different things from people obeying you and seeing your authority and going underneath to do something else,''

he statedAccording to him, galamsey activities begun within the Abuakwa states around 2009, adding that he waged the war against the activity.The traditional ruler indicated that a task-force he set up yielded little results, for which reason he complained to the duty bearers to help control the menace but that also proved futile.“It started around 2009, when we saw a bunch of people coming from the Akwatia area to our area, and they started doing their galamsey. We immediately sent them a message to stop it.

I myself visited the President, Mills and told him that what is coming is quite dangerous and we need to stop. The president called the then regional minister, Ofosu Ampofo and told him that you need to do whatever you can to stop it. Ofosu Ampofo put his team together and confiscated some of their equipment.

”According to the Okyehene, 15 days after the equipment including excavators were seized, they were given back to their owners while the galamsey continued unabated.“There is not one single person who matters in this environment that I have not talked to – the chamber of mines, the minerals commission, forestry commission, the president, MPs, among others.”