Correspondence from the Bono Region

The chiefs and people of Atronie in the Sunyani East Municipality of the Bono Region on Monday, August 10, 2026, resorted to traditional rituals as desperation grows over the wanton destruction of the environment by illegal miners.

The rituals, in the view of residents familiar with the exercise, are intended to seek spiritual protection for the river and invoke traditional powers to drive away activities considered harmful to the community's natural resources.

While the approach may appear unusual, residents insist that it should be understood against the backdrop of their growing anxiety about the river's destruction.

Dressed in black and red, with red headgear and matching armbands, the residents marched on the main street of the town in protest, holding placards with inscriptions like “Mr President stop galamsey”, “MP why have you neglected us”, “Who is behind galamsey”, and “Stop destroying our farmlands” among others.

They chanted traditional war songs and marched to the banks of the Amoma River, an important source of water for Atronie and surrounding communities, which has been devastated by the activities of illegal mining.

At the banks, the Fetish Priest of the Atronie traditional shrine, Okomfo Kwasi Nyantakyi, flanked by Diawusie Amponsem Darko II, the Chief of Atronie, alongside other sub-chiefs and queenmothers, led the spiritual rites by slaughtering a ram and poured libation.

According to Okomfo Kwasi Nyantakyi, the rites are intended to invoke the ancestors and spiritual forces for protection and divine intervention in the community’s struggle against the destruction of the Amoma River by illegal mining.

“With the rituals performed, anybody who dares to engage in galamsey will have themselves to blame as the god will not spare them”, he warned.

On his part, Nana Diawusie Amponsem Darko expressed disappointment over what he describes as the government’s failure to take decisive action against illegal mining on Atronie lands, despite the increasingly devastating and repeated appeals from the traditional authorities and residents.

He therefore called for urgent and sustained intervention to halt the illegal mining activities and protect the community’s remaining water bodies, farmlands and natural resources from further degradation.