About 200 officers of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) on Wednesday morning began an operation to forcefully remove all persons and logistics involved in illegal mining on the country’s river bodies.
The exercise began on River Pra in the Western and Central regions.
This, according to the Minister of Information, is in furtherance of the resolutions of the final communique issued after the the two-day Stakeholder Dialogue on Small Scale Mining.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, April 28, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the move is “to ensure that mining within water bodies is immediately stopped”.
He further indicated that the Ministry of Defence and GAF will provide a detailed brief on the developments and the sustainability efforts on Friday, April 30.
Meanwhile, scientists at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), where most of the small-scale miners are trained, have asked for permission to be allowed into the Pra river to make it clean within a month.
Speaking when the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, visited the school during a two-day tour of the Western Region, Vice Chancellor Professor Richard Akwasi Amankwaah said “we need the permission of the Water Resources Commission to enter the Pra River.
“When we start, I want to believe that within a period of one month we should be able to reduce the turbidity levels.”
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana
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