DCE puts Galamsey operators on wanted list in Ashanti region
The Atwima Kwanwoma District Security Committee (DISEC) has launched a manhunt on some unscrupulous local people who have turned deaf ears to the presidential ban on illegal small scale mining activities engaging in the act on the blind side of the anti galamsey taskforce; Operation Vanguard
Members of the Committee, headed by the District Chief Executive (DCE), Nana Okyere Tawiah Antwi, on Friday 14 September, 2018 impounded excavators at Nweneso Number 2 during a working visit to the two communities
“At Nweneso Number 1 some of the people were still doing galamsey and immediately they saw my presence, they took to their heels”, the DCE narrated to this reporter, Kwabena Danso-Dapaah.
“I am declaring them wanted and anyone with information which can lead to their arrest and successful prosecution can come to me in my office”, Hon. Okyere Tawiah Antwi appealed to the general public.
According to the chairman of the DISEC, among other equipment seized are; four excavators, pumping machines, tricycles and a vehicle which are currently at the police custody.
The government has identified some Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) who are involved in illegal mining, popularly referred to as “galamsey.”
The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Hajia Alima Mahama who made this known added that government will soon name and sack all those appointees.
According to the minister, the involvement of MMDCEs in illegal mining was thwarting the government’s effort in the fight against the menace.
She said the government has all the names of all MMDCEs engaged in galamsey and will release them at the appropriate time
Hajia Alima disclosed this when she addressed a retreat for MMDCEs in Accra Monday.
The retreat was to sensitise the MMDCEs on government’s roadmap to lifting the ban on all small-scale mining activities
Source: Kwabena Danso-Dapaah
