Offinsohene Nana Dwamena Akenten II has blamed the Minerals Commission for causing the destruction of Ghana’s forest reserves and pollution of its water bodies.
The chief says it is the Commission that grants people permit from Accra to mine at the various forests in the country, causing destruction to the nation’s environment.
Reaffirming his opposition to the practice and allowing such in his environment, baring the devastation the menace has caused in the various communities in the country, Nana Dwamena-Akenten did not mince words to accuse the Minerals Commission as the ones behind the rampant illegal mining also known as ‘galamsey’ in the country.
He noted that people have come to him with several concessions from Accra to mine at Offinso but “unless I am beheaded, there will never be galamsey on my land.”
The revered chief made the declaration during the Green Ghana Day Friday, June 07, 2024, after planting his tree. “Our decision remains unchanged,” he reiterated.
“The Minerals Commission should look at the available forests and not grant application to anyone to come and mine. They sit there [in Accra] and take their monies and send the people to come and tempt us. But we will also never allow that. So we all have to come together including the Minerals Commission to stop ‘galamsey’ from happening.
“You sit in Accra and issue permits to people to come and do galamsey here if we the chiefs allow them. Don’t you know that the lands are being destroyed? So it is the Minerals Commission that is destroying the lands and not the chiefs because they grant the permit. So we are resolute that there will never be galamsey in Offinso,” he poured his heart out.
“We do not want any explanation from the mineral commission because our lands are not for mining activities. Posterity also has a natural right to the environment and the minerals. Just as we have inherited these from our forebears, the least we could do is to leave them in its current state, if not better,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Offinso General Manager of the Ghana forestry commission Edward Nyaama, on his part said despite the numerous awareness creation exercises by the Forestry Commission on bush fires preventive mechanism on the part of communities who are into cultivation of food crops, there appears to be no appreciation of the efforts of the organizations in question by beneficiary communities in trying to accomplish the goal of nature conservation.
He said all depleted forests in the Offinso enclave are as a result of bush fires and therefore asked residents to desist from such acts.
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