Matilda Amissah-Arthur (seated right) in a photograph with some of the participants
Former Second Lady, Mrs. Matilda Amissah-Arthur, has taken a swipe at chiefs in the Western Region for allegedly doing little to help halt the activities of illegal mining in the region.
The former Second Lady was also not happy that the clergy, media and civil society organisations have purportedly looked on as galamsey operators continue to pollute waters bodies and degrade arable lands.
“All these people have given residents in the region the reason not to take us serious,” she stated.
Mrs. Amissah-Arthur, who hail from the region, was speaking as a guest of honour at the opening of the Western Region Development Conference under the auspices of the Nana Kobina Nketsia IV Trust held at Busua in the Ahanta West Municipality yesterday.
The five-day conference is on the theme: “Driving Inclusive and Equitable Development in the Western Region”.
The conference, organised by the Nana Kobina Nketsia IV Trust, is the fourth in the series aimed at creating the platform for businesses and corporate citizens to lobby for rapid and equitable development towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
She said, “Now I will take on the chiefs. Where have you been when all the lands in your areas were being taken over by galamsey operators?”
“They say you are fronting for some big men in Accra, Takoradi, Ho and even in America and China. Some even say you have been given huge sums of money.
“I don’t even see the huge amount of money on you. I don’t see it in your buildings or in the way you dress. I don’t see it anywhere,” she pointed out.
She continued, “But did you collect the huge amount or the small amount just to allow our water bodies to be polluted or our lands depleted?”
Mrs. Amissah-Arthur also criticised the media for neglecting issues that could help bring development in the Western Region.
She also did not spare the clergy for allegedly refusing to tell their congregation the truth and the need for them to be faithful in whatever they do.
She could not fathom why the Western Region produces chunk of the country’s natural resources, but had the most deplorable roads.
She cited an instance where she was driving to Esiama in the Ellembelle District and she had to drive at the shoulders of the road because the roads were in bad state.
“Even though it was risky driving on the sides of the road, it was much better. As for Sefwi Wiawso and beyond, you have to brace yourself for an adventure,” she pointed out.
“To sum up the state of affairs in the Western Region, I’ll like to quote what a friend I took to New Town, a border area near Half Assini. This friend asked me, are we in Ghana? Because there were no good roads,” she added.
She said the schools were in sorry states, most of the towns had no potable water, there were also abandoned drains and gutters, which had become death traps.
“Our region has been neglected and is helpless to the extent that there is no legacy that we are leaving anybody,” she asserted.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Busua