Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr. Frank Amoakohene has issued a two-week ultimatum to illegal miners to end their activities in water bodies and forest.
According to the minister, this directive forms part of initial measures to tackle the galamsey menace.
The Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council will deploy a team to enforce the directive and halt mining activities in these protected areas following the elapse of the two-week notice.
“The President [John Dramani Mahama] has issued a directive that anyone in the forest reserves mining should vacate those places. We’re giving them up to two weeks if you are mining within forest reserves and if you don’t want to be on the other side of the law, you have two weeks to vacate or leave those places.”
“The other area has to do with water bodies, so we’re giving them two weeks, if you have any investment whatsoever and you are on water bodies polluting them and destroying our water bodies, you have two weeks to leave the space. We will send out a team to ensure normalcy and restore order within the mining sector,” he disclosed in his first media briefing.
Dr. Amoakohene also outlined key measures to combat illegal mining and ensure strict compliance with environmental regulations.
Illegal mining activities have cause great destruction to forest reserves and water bodies. These destructions have affected the quality of life in Ghana, with the government struggling to end it.
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