Chiefs are forced to use their own resources in fighting illegal mining-Ogyeahohoo Yaw Gyebi II
The President of the National House of Chiefs, Ogyeahohoo Yaw Gyebi II, has disclosed that chiefs situated in galamsey prone areas are compelled to use their own resources in fighting illegal mining.
Ogyeahohoo Yaw Gyebi II, speaking in an interview, explained that there are instances where chiefs order the arrest of illegal miners operating in forest reserves without permission from the government.
The leader of the National House of Chiefs also appealed to the government to inform chiefs about lands that are legally handed over to miners for their operation in order to control the rate of illegal miners destroying arable lands and forest reserves.
“When you go to the forestry reserves, they are under the Forestry Commission, and these are areas we don’t go there. Sometimes, if you go hunting as a chief in that area, you will be arrested and prosecuted for that”.
“Sometimes, you will see excavators ten or fifteen with securities in the forest, and you ask yourself who authorized these people to come into the forest and mine. Before you realize and ask…hey..jack who asked you to mine here, you will realize that there is no one to provide you with any information. So what we do is that we, the chiefs, have to find out from the Forestry Commission or the Minister of Lands and Mineral Resources to find out whether they authorized those people to mine in the forest, and you will realize that no one has given them any permission. What it means is that you, you the chief, have to use your resources to stop them, and that is if you have the required resources, “Ogyeahohoo Yaw Gyebi II noted in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report on Joy.
In 2022, the National House of Chiefs headed by Ogyeahohoo Yaw Gyebi II, in one of their meetings, tasked the IGP, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, to arrest and prosecute all persons indulging in illegal mining in the country.
The Chiefs also lauded President Akufo Addo for applying stringent measures to curb illegal mining in the country.