He said the government will even go at length to prosecute officials caught in the galamsey activities.
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, has warned that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) who engage in illegal mining in the region will be punished.
Simon Osei-Mensah
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Speaking to the media during World Earth Day, he urged the MMDCEs to collaborate with him and security agencies effectively in dealing with the matter.
“We are going to be tough on all the MMDCEs. Anybody who engages in the activities of illegal mining, we will deal with the person sternly because if the President says he has put his presidency on the line to fight illegal mining and we who are the representatives of the president are rather engaging in galamsey, then we are not faithful to the President and for that matter, we cannot represent him.”
Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei Mensah
Pulse Ghana
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“If we want to represent the President, then we should do what the President asks us to do and not otherwise. I am the chairman of the Regional Security Council, the MMDCEs also chair the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Security Councils, so they would have to take action in their respective areas. Once the person takes action, we cannot take sanctions against the person. For instance, galamsey is like the black market, you can arrest the person today here, next time, he is on the other side engaging in black market activities again.”
“So as MMDCEs, your responsibility is to find people who are engaging in illegal mining, and once you are the heads of the various security councils, you should draw the attention of the police and military. For the military, they should draw my attention to it because they are under the regional minister”.
He made this statement at Bosome Freho, where the ministry, in collaboration with the Manhyia Palace, the US Embassy, and the District Assemblies of Bosomtwe and Bosome Freho, has begun an exercise to plant two thousand trees at Lake Bosomtwe to preserve it.
