The National Priests and Priestesses Association (NPPA) has said it is petitioning the overlord of the Asante Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, over the increasing illegal mining activities in the country.
The Association says illegal mining activities also known as ‘galamsey’ has negatively impacted the environment and also remains the biggest threat to humanity.
Following the failure of various interventions by the government to curb the menace and its recent lazy attitude towards the calls to ban all forms of small-scale mining and declare a state of emergency on the menace, the group says it will invoke the wrath of the gods on the persons involved in the act.
The group says it would invoke curses on the persons behind the act for the gods to deal with them, while it presents a petition to the Asantehene during its protests to also deal with the chiefs fostering the practice in the region.
Speaking with Captain Smart on Onua TV’s morning show, Maakye, Tuesday, October 08, 2024, President of the Association, Nana Kwaku Bonsam, stated that the group’s protest would commence in the Ashanti region where the petition will be presented to the Regional House of Chiefs to make an onward delivery to Otumfuo.
He also alleged that some government officials involved in the act find their way to perform rituals to undertake the activity when the fetish priests they consult to perform those rituals on their behalf reject their calls.
“Some of our chiefs and government officials including ministers have been visiting some of the fetish priests in the villages where they mine gold to perform rituals for them to do galamsey. When they refuse, the ministers bypass them and go to the chiefs to perform the rituals and start mining.
“Meanwhile, when the residents get kidney problems, they bring them to the same priests to heal them. So, we’ve realised that if we don’t speak with the gods and curse those behind the galamsey for the gods to kill some of them, there will come a time we’ll have to travel to Ouagadogou to find water to do naming ceremony for newborn babies,” he lamented.
“We’ll start in the Ashanti region and march to the Regional House of Chiefs and petition them to alert Otumfuo to rise against the chiefs supporting those doing galamsey. I’ve gone for a one-handed fowl and very soon, they are going to be struck down with stroke.
“…that’s why we the NPPA have decided to organise a mammoth demonstration and curse those behind the galamsey because pastors have demonstrated, we didn’t get any results, soldiers and police have done their part, we didn’t get anything from it. For the gods, if we do the rituals, we know they’ll work,” he stated.
