The Chief of Dompim Pepesa Tufo, a suburb of Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality, Tufohene Nana Awuah Koanpong VII, has claimed that at least two of the forest reserves in his area are being used for illegal small-scale mining (galamsey).
According to him, his attempts to stop the menace have endangered his life as well as the lives of the people with whom he is fighting the galamseyers.
Nana Koanpong called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to support his efforts by deploying some law enforcement personnel to his community to help him stop the illegal miners.
“There is active galamsey going on in my area. There are five communities under Dompim. We have Bonsa, we have Biponekyei, and we also have Trebou. The galamsey is very prevalent in Bonsa and Trebou. Bonsa and Trebou have thick forests, and that is where the galamsey is taking place.
“When you are going to the forest at Trebou, you will see a community mining sign post, and we have President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo; the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, and the Deputy Minister of Lands, Mireku Duker, on the post.
“The ironic thing is that there is no land for this community mining in Trebou aside from the forest… there is another post there that says that this forest is not part of areas for community mining. But that is where the galamsey is taking place,” he said in Twi.
The Tufohene further stated that a community task force, he set up to fight the galamseyers were once stripped naked by people in military uniforms who were guiding the mines.
He added that if the government is serious about fighting galamsey it should come to his aid with the need force to stop it in his area.