Some degraded areas in Ningo-Prampram
Ningo-Prampram in the Greater Accra Region has been hit with a galamsey-like sand winning operation, a situation which has attracted the attention of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS).
So bad is the sand winning that it is posing danger to residents, some of whom have had foundations of their houses exposed as a result of the illegality.
Also being targeted are areas around high tension pylons stretching from Akosombo and passing through the municipality.
Disturbing pictures of the aftermath of the sand winning have gone viral on social media, showing exposed foundations of the pylons.
A few days ago, an Infantry officer attached to NAIMOS was verbally lambasted by the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency, Samuel Nartey George, after members of the electoral area complained about “an overreaching action on illegal sand winners.”
Mr. Nartey George, who is also the Communications Minister, warned soldiers deployed for the anti-sand winning operation to desist from harassing his people lest they face as he put it “street justice.”
Observers of illegal mining, when they heard Sam George’s “street justice,” recalled what happened to Lt Col Mahama who was killed during is deployment to an illegal mining area.
Describing the said officer whose service number he mentioned, as a bad element in the military, he promised to have the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) dismiss him from the Armed Forces.
The reaction to the minister’s harsh remarks on social media were anything but charitable. Some asked why he did not engage his colleague, the Defence Minister, before coming out the way he did.
Some of his supporters, obviously excited about his ranting as they stood beside him and some police officers, encouraged him with applauses.
During a later meeting with the Minister of Defence and the Military High Command, his public reaction was put on the spot, for which reason an apology was demanded.
Although this demand has not come out yet, he was quick to state in a social media post that a meeting to resolve the matter took place.
The outcome of the said meeting, he said, was positive. He, however, did not say whether he was going to press for the dismissal of the officer, an impossible bluff.
Persons conversant with the Armed Forces Regulations laughed off his threats as mere bluff and an indication of his lack of knowledge of the standards in the military as they pertain to commissioned officers especially.