Engage chiefs in crusade against mining in water bodies – EPA

Mr Ali Sandow, Municipal Director for Environmental Protection Agency in Tarkwa Nsueam, has said chiefs should be engaged in the crusade against mining in water bodies and forest reserves.

He said considering the important role played by chiefs in the Ghanaian society, they would be an effective tool in solving this menace which is ongoing in most communities in the Western Region.

Mr Sandow told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that though the government and the Tarkwa Nsueam District Assembly had engaged the services of the military to check illegal miners, the miners went back to their illegal activities.

He said the activities of the illegal miners had become a burden on the government as it spends huge sums of money to stop such activities but without any effect.

Mr Sandow said with the traditional rulers on board, the stage would be set for the protection of water bodies and forest reserves and appealed to chiefs to refrain from allowing illegal miners to operate in their areas.

Source: GNA