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The Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul as part of the third phase in the fight against galamsey has disclosed that the Birim river has lost its tributaries to the illegal operations of the large scale mining companies in the area.

According to him, the tributaries of the Birim river have been killed as a result of the large scale mining companies illegally mining within the belt of the river Birim.

Addressing the media on Wednesday, 19th May, 2021 at the Ministry of Information, Dominic Nitiwul said that the large scale mining companies have diverted the courses of the streams and the smalls leading to the Birim river and mine within the river belt.

He added that the large scale mining companies after diverting the courses into their created ponds to wash their gold could not revert the courses back to the main river.

“What they have done particularly to the tributaries is that they have killed all the tributaries of river Birim. They divert the river courses of both the tributaries and river Birim because they are actually looking to mine within the river belt and to be able to mine within the river belt, they divert the courses; all the streams and the small rivers, they have diverted the courses and mine within the river belt. They could not even divert the courses back to the river but they divert it into their ponds they have created to wash their gold,” he lamented.

“They divert the river into ponds they have created and leave the river belt dry and then mine within the river belt and whatever water that comes through the river is diverted into their ponds,” he added.

To him, responsible large scale mining companies should rather sink boreholes powered by either electricity or a generator to feed their dams as they cannot get water to wash their gold than to depend on the water bodies that provide water for the people in the community.

“A responsible mining company will sink boreholes to feed his dam; you create huge dams if they cannot get water, they should sink boreholes to feed their dam and these boreholes can be powered by either electricity or by generator . . . if a mining company is making millions of dollars from us, they should be able to sink their own boreholes not just for their mining operations but also for the communities as well," he slammed.

“But when you divert rivers that our forefathers have bequeathed to us; God has created for us and today the communities around the Birim river who depend on this water for survival have to been buying water to survive is a danger we must stop,” he said.

He further mentioned that the operation of the Ghana Armed Forces is not a direct target at anybody as the soldiers who are carrying out the operation do not know anybody but have been instructed to destroy any excavator they find within the red zone.

“So it is not as if anybody has been targeted, far from that. In fact, that the soldiers don’t know anybody. When they meet an excavator they destroy it as long as it is within their red zone. They don’t ask who is for this excavator,” he mentioned.

“If somebody doubts it, I will be glad to do a tour with all manner of people to walk with them on the Birim river from beginning to the end; it will take us 100km but let’s all take a stroll and you will see the danger and the devastation that has been done to the people in the area,” he dared.