The Paramount Chief of Dormaa, Osagyefo Agyemang Badu II, has vowed to get tough with subordinate chiefs in the area, found to be encouraging illegal gold mining in their communities.
He said punitive sanctions would be applied against offending chiefs – those who gave out land to the miners and this would take the form of either the imposition of a fine or removal from office.
He was speaking at a joint meeting with the traditional rulers, Dormaa Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr. Gordon Asubonteng, the security agencies, heads of department, assembly members and religious leaders at Abanpredease in Dormaa-Ahenkro.
It provided the platform to discuss effective ways to tackle the havoc wreaked on the environment by the illegal miners.
Osagyefo Agyemang Badu expressed discomfort with the massive destruction of farmlands, forest reserves and river bodies and said he was determined to go to every length to stop the illegal activity.
He promised to reward people who helped to expose and arrest those mining in the various communities without authorization by the appropriate state institutions.
He also spoke of plans to mobilize the necessary resources to cover deep mining pits left by the miners, which had become a big danger to life.
The Paramount Chief used the meeting to publicly deny having anything doing with the illegal miners, saying, that would have amounted to betrayal of his people, something he would never do.
He pointed out that, “most of the Dormaa lands are stool lands” but said “as to whether the illegal miners have been issued with permit or not I am not privy to such information”.
Mr. Asubonteng said although the constitution permitted the harnessing of natural resources including mineral resources due process must be followed – licensed must be obtained.
Source: GNA
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