‘Check illegal mining’
The Eastern Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Felix Addo-Okyireh, has made a passionate appeal to the judiciary to assist in checking illegal mining in the country.
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He said the inability of the courts to crack the whip on illegal miners who were brought before them had become a bane in the country’s efforts to clamp down on the menace.
Mr Addo-Okyireh, who was speaking at a one-day stakeholders workshop at Kade organised by Inspectorate Division of the Minerals Commission, therefore, urged the courts to deal decisively with perpetrators who flouted the nation’s mining laws.
He said although the presidential task force which was set up to help with the menace made a positive impact, a lot more needed to be done since most of the culprits who were arraigned, were walking freely on the streets.
The workshop brought together traditional rulers, assembly members, miners and the core staff of the Kwaebibirem District Assembly.
A mining inspector at the Minerals Commission, Mr J. F. Arthur, mentioned public apathy in reporting illegal miners, community encroachment by licensed mining operators and ignorance of the existence of mineral laws as some of the challenges confronting the commission in the discharge of its mandated duties.
He, therefore, called for the total collaboration of all and sundry to help the commission to enforce compliance of the laws.
Mr Arthur advised traditional authorities and the general public to desist from releasing lands to prospective miners without recourse to the commission.
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The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Kwaebibirem, Mr Emmanuel Aboagye Osae, earlier in his welcoming address, entreated the participants to become apostles of the message.
He said the duty to protect the natural resource was a responsibility of everybody, and therefore, advised the participants to make it a duty to safeguard the environment for generations unborn.
Mr Aboagye Osae stressed that the assembly had over the past years been trying to fight against the menace in the district but lacked the expertise.
He, therefore, enjoined the commission to make its services available to the district.
The Principal Inspector of Mines, Mr Evans Addae, charged all and sundry to wake up to the call to help curb the menace of illegal mining activities in the district.