Illegal miners taking over Brong-Ahafo

The infamous illegal mining otherwise known as “galamsey” is rearing its ugly head in some parts of the Brong Ahafo Region.

‘Galamsey’ has increasingly assumed alarming proportions recently, especially in areas like Asutifi South and North and Tano North districts where the illegal miners have stepped-up their operations with impunity.

In the Asutifi area, countless pit-sites keep springing up each day as thousands of people, including school dropouts and women, are engaged in the unlawful activity as their sole source of livelihood. Some foreign nationals from Burkina Faso, Togo, Nigeria, Mali and China have joined the array of illegal miners in the Region.

The dreadful practice is visible at Atongo village and its immediate environs in the Tano North district where it is threatening to pollute the Tano River, which is the main source to the Ghana Water Company’s treatment plant at Abesim that serves the Sunyani Municipality and nearby areas.

The menace has given birth to consequences such as pollution of water-bodies and destruction of farmlands, insecurity, drug-abuse, high cost of living, and teenage pregnancy among other social vices which are forcing many who cannot weather the storm of galamsey to relocate.

Paul Evans Aidoo, Brong Ahafo Regional Minister at the first meeting of the Regional Coordinating Council, categorically stated Government’s position on illegal mining, charging Municipal and District Assemblies to adopt the necessary steps to arrest the situation within their jurisdictions.

“I wish to reiterate President Mahama’s directive that MMDAs must collaborate with the Security Agencies as well as Traditional authorities to ensure that all persons involved in ‘galamsey’ are arrested and prosecuted, or else they will be held responsible for the non-compliance of the directive,” he stressed.

Another anti-human activity wrecking the Brong Ahafo is forest degradation through illegal logging, chain-sawing, illegal harvesting of forest plantations and illegal farming, which are causing a major challenge to sustainable forest management in the Region.

As a result of the fast-growing exploitation, the region’s forest reserves are under serious threat: most especially in the Goaso, Bechem, Dormaa and Sunyani Forest Districts.

There are six (6) forest districts in the Region: Sunyani, Goaso, Dormaa Kintampo, Bechem and Atebubu, but most of them have lost their virginity to human activities by some self-centered people who do not appreciate the importance of forest protection.

A region that was completely forested at the beginning of the 20th century has been plagued with forest degradation for some time now; its forest cover dwindled to about half in the 1950s, and currently only about 2,911.57km2 (about 7.6%) remains.