Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori-Panin
MEMBERS OF the Council of State have called on the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, at Kyebi in the Eastern Region, in their quest to find lasting solution to the illegal mining activities causing havoc to the environment and river bodies in the country.
The Okyenhene however, expressed disgust over his linkage to illegal mining, popularly called galamsey.
Chairman of the Council of State, Nana Otuo Siriboe II (Asante Juabenhene), briefing the Okyenhene about the purpose of their visit, said members of the Council had resolved to gather information about galamsey and advise President Nana Akufo-Addo accordingly.
According to him, since the Council was inaugurated in February this year, it had made conscious efforts to engage some key ministers to enable it have deeper understanding about the galamsey menace to be able to advise the president on how to halt it, saying, “We believe we should not be armchair advisers.”
The Okyenhene lauded the Council for the efforts it’s been making.
Anger
He seized the opportunity to publicly respond to the recent Bureau of National Investigation’s (BNI’s) report which accused him and his palace of being complicit in the illegal mining activities at Kyebi.
According to Osagyefuo, the report is nothing but a falsehood aimed at maligning him, claiming that he felt targeted by some individuals, noting that there are eight regions in the country where illegal mining activities were ongoing, but all attention was being focused on him.
“It’s crazy for anybody to think that I will wake up at night and go and steal my own land,” he said, threatening a court action against the BNI.
The Okyenhene said that he had since 1999 been fighting to save the environment for the younger generation and those yet unborn and so felt hurt to be accused of being the brain behind the destruction of the environment in his area through galamsey.
“I started as a lonely fighter,” he spoke of his fight against galamsey over the years.
He explained that he could not be blamed for the galamsey menace because he does not have the coercive force to stop people from mining illegally, but that he could only play an advocacy role.
“The gold doesn’t belong to Nananom; it is in the hands of the president and the central government,” he said.
According to him, if he had been interested in mining, he would have gone to acquire a licence from the Minerals Commission to mine legally and not to engage in galamsey.
Some sites visited by the Okyenhene and the Council of State members were close to schools and the Okyenhene indicated that sometimes when the galamseyers were confronted by the police and the army, they vacate the sites but after some time they return to resume their illegal activities.
According to him, in October last year, he engaged the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) to mobilize some soldiers to combat the illegal miners in the region.
He said again he embarked on another operation with the 1st Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, and that they seized a total of 16 excavators from the galamseyers.
To his surprise, he said, the excavators were later returned to the illegal miners and when he questioned Mr. Ampofo on why the excavators were returned to the galamseyers, “Ofosu Ampofo told me that you won’t believe who is behind this.”
Ban
Asked what he thought was the way forward to ending galamsey, the Okyenhene pointed out emphatically that small scale mining must be banned for some time to sanitize the sector.
He said while the ban is in place, government can engage the youth to plant trees in the areas that have been destroyed by the galamseyers.
BY Melvin Tarlue