Report illegal miners "Birim North DCE to assembly members, chiefs"

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Birim North in the Eastern Region, Raymond Nana Damptey, has appealed to assembly members and chiefs in the area to report any activity of illegal miners in their communities.

He said by doing so, it would be possible for the security services to immediately arrest the illegal miners.

That, he indicated, would have prevented accidents at mining pits which had resulted in the death of some illegal miners.

The DCE made the appeal when he addressed the assembly members as well as the staff at New Abirem, the district capital, last Friday.

Cave in

Last week, a galamsey pit at Korle Tei, one of the mining communities, caved in, killing seven of the illegal miners, with one of the three others, who was rescued, also dying later to bring the number to eight.

Mr Damptey said some of the assembly members gave prior notice to the illegal miners at a time of swoops by the security services and the District Security Council (DISEC), which enabled the illegal miners to escape.

He, therefore, urged the assembly members to desist from the practice to enable the DISEC and other security services to apprehend the illegal miners to save lives.

On security in the district, he said the DISEC had intensified night patrols and monitoring of road blocks to check illegal activities.

Mr Damptey said DISEC had also been closely monitoring chieftaincy disputes in all the hotspots in the district to keep them at bay.

Agriculture

Touching on agriculture, Mr Damptey said the assembly was making frantic efforts to make farming a viable and attractive business venture for the teeming youth in the area.

He said in that respect over the past 12 months, the assembly had distributed 256,221 oil palm seedlings to 2,017 farmers, out of which 601 were women, under the government's Planting for Export and Rural Development programme.

The DCE also said 3,500 coconut seedlings were distributed to three senior high schools and 67 basic schools across the district in support of the Tree Crop Development Authority.

Education

Regarding education, Mr Damptey said the assembly continued to organise mock examinations for junior high school Form Three students to better prepare them for the Basic Education Certificate Examination, while 200 dual desks were also given to some private schools last year.

He said in the 2021 Basic Education Certificate Examination, the district performed creditably with 82 per cent of a total of 1,727 candidates passing.

Also on social welfare, he said the assembly continued to support persons with disability (PWDs) with start-up kits for their own businesses, educational support, medical assistance and apprenticeship training so they could fend for themselves and their families and that in 2022, 191 PWDs were catered for.

Projects

The district, he said, was also undertaking a number of projects such as classroom blocks, clinics, CHPS compound, places of convenience and mechanised water systems, among others, some of which had been completed with others at various stages of completion.

He said a health centre for the Akoase and Pankese communities had been completed, while work on 64 lockable stores at New Abirem and 12-unit market stores at Nkwarteng were ongoing.