The Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr. Frank Amoakohene, has issued a two-week ultimatum for illegal miners to vacate water bodies and forest reserves, reaffirming the government’s commitment to curbing the menace.
He stated that the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council would deploy a team to enforce the directive and put an end to mining activities in these protected areas.
Speaking at his maiden media briefing since assuming office, Dr. Amoakohene outlined key strategies to combat illegal mining and ensure strict adherence to environmental regulations.
“The President has issued us a directive that anyone in the forest reserves mining should vacate those places. We’re giving them up to two weeks that if you are mining within forest reserves and you don’t want to be on the bad side or on the other side of the law, you have two weeks to vacate or leave those places,” he said.
He noted that many rivers flow through multiple regions, so while he is committed to tackling illegal mining in the Ashanti Region, his efforts would be in vain if other regional ministers do not share the same commitment. To ensure a unified approach, he plans to meet with his counterparts from other regions to coordinate efforts and collectively combat illegal mining, aiming to restore the nation’s water bodies.
“Having done that, we’ve also realized that most of the rivers have their path through different or other regions. For which reason the efforts within the Ashanti Region to even curb the galamsey and the illegal mining issue may not or really does not come to life. So what is happening is that I’m working together with the other Regional ministers who equally share most of the tributaries of the river and the river passes through their Region so that we can be holistic in our approach fighting galamsey,” he said.
