Member of Parliament(MP) for Mpraeso Constituency in the Eastern Region, Hon Davis Opoku has accused some Chinese nationals of deliberately destroying water bodies and lands with illegal mining activities.
The motive of these unscrupulous Chinese, he explained, is to take over the cocoa industry in Europe which has been the backbone of Ghana's economy by engaging in illegal mining.
Speaking on Okay FM's Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, Hon Davis Opoku alluded to the fact that the Chinese are destroying the country's water bodies with chemicals so that the polluted water will destroy the cocoa beans and will not get the world market values, paving way for the Chinese who are also now growing cocoa in China.
" . . the European Union has already cautioned against the undervalue cocoa beans, hence the Chinese people gradually pushing the country's major source of economic growth to the ditch and take over the market with their cocoa which they took from Ghana . . ."
". . it is a deliberate effort of the Chinese people to destroy our lands with illegal mining and then sell their cocoa in Europe and so I am happy that the President, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has decided to fight illegal mining," he noted.
He bemoaned that Praso No.1, a community in his constituency is confronted with a similar challenge as a mining company intends to operate in alluvial mining in the Praso River which supplies water to the community that produces a large scale of cocoa in the constituency.
He stressed that the alluvial mining if permitted to go on will poison the only source of water for the people and their farming activities; thus, there is already a water challenge which is why the government is undertaking water projects at Kwahu, Konongo, and Kumawu.
Professing solution to the illegal mining activities by the Chinese people, the Mpraeso lawmaker called on President Akufo-Addo to institute an inter-ministerial agency to solely handle the licensing and the permission of gold mining so as to avoid systemic problem existing among the EPA, Minerals Commission, and the Forestry Commission in terms of the license and permit.
"I think it is also a systemic problem because as part of our activities in giving license to people to engage in mining, the government has to put together an inter-ministerial agency to regulate or provide the license and the permit so that we avoid the challenge of calling EPA, Minerals Commission and Forestry Commission to find out how some people got the license and the permit to operate," he indicated.
" . . one of the best solutions to the challenge is to have one inter-ministerial agency in charge of gold, giving license, so that if something goes wrong we can hold that agency responsible," he stressed.
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Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com
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Ghanaians are not angry enough, do you think you can go to china and even mistakenly cut down a branch of a cocoa tree? but lets blame the leaders if strict measures were taken earlier am sure we would have gotten somewhere by now. but greediness at its highest level. it hurts to hear a party member who cant even afford 3 square meal a day defending the wrong. its SAD.
The government should be bold and stop all small scale mining now before it's too late. It is the small scale mining companies who have turned their acquired lands into the galamsay business. It's very sad and scary to see all our rivers with their brownish colour and you wonder if they were once as clear as what we see here in UK. I always pass by the wet lands at Tottenham Hale and you see how water is preserved and protected from any encroachment, and l ask myself whether we are cursed as a nation.
You are a member of Parliament of the ruling government, and you are here telling us all this. Why can't the government arrest and deport these saboteurs? The government paid lip service in fighting the galamsay menace when they assumed power in 2017. Four years later, we are still lamenting about the situation, how long can we wait for these evil Chinese people to destroy or rivers and lands before we act?
what is wrong with nana addo? what is wrong with ghanaians?are u ***barred word*** that even until date no one is responsible for the problem going on and u call yourself commander in chief.habaa is so sad Ghana wake up
The question is-- Who sold the land to the Chinese?