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The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, has asked traditional leaders to lend a hand to the country’s fight against illegal mining and deforestation.
He said there was the need for chiefs to get involved to help the government to succeed as the government desired to sanitise the mining sector and rid it of illegal mining, commonly called galamsey.

“We are here to seek advice on how to preserve the landscape and forest of our country,” he said.

It was in this regard that the minister and his counterpart from the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mr Ebenezer Kojo Kum, held a closed door meeting with the members of the National House of Chiefs to brief them on Operation Halt and other government efforts aimed at ending illegal mining.

Collaboration

He described the meeting with the National House of Chiefs as an important step in the fight against galamsey, saying the chiefs represented the entire nation.

He said the meeting was also important “because the chiefs of this country and the National House of Chiefs constitute the moral conscience of our nation”.

“It is so because in all matters of disputation, whether it has to do with mining or administration of our lands or our forest reserves, we end up in the palaces of our chiefs,” he explained.

Again, he said, it would not be possible to have an effective management of the lands and natural resources of the country “without the involvement of the chiefs”.

He said the ministry would also seek the support of the National House of Chiefs in addressing other issues such as the land administration and forest degradation.

“Illegal small scale mining seems to have caught the attention of the country, but a careful examination of lands and natural resources as a whole would reveal that there are even more difficult and complicated issues relating to land administration and forest degradation in our country,” he stated.

Chieftaincy

The Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Minister said his presence was to formally introduce himself to the chiefs, and to also seek their support towards his duties.

He said the chieftaincy institution was fraught with lots of issues, including chieftaincy disputes across the country, and expressed the hope that with the support of the house, “we will together try to resolve all outstanding chieftaincy disputes”.

He said owing to the pivotal role of chiefs in land administration, the President had tasked his ministry, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation to find lasting solutions to the galamsey menace.

Support

Earlier, the President of the National House of Chiefs, Sefwi Anwhiasohene Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi, asked the members to support the government in the fight against illegal mining.

“There is no doubt that illegal mining is gradually undermining our water bodies and forest cover, and causing destruction to the environment.

“If the menace is not checked and uprooted or regulated to safeguard the future of the country, the unborn generation would have reasonable cause to blame us and the ministers and the politicians put in charge to protect the environment,” he stated.