By Benjamin Asomah, GNA
Berekum, (Bono), April 23, GNA-Scores of residents poured on the streets of the Berekum Township in the Berekum Region in the early hours of Thursday to protest against illegal mining activities at the Amomaso in the Municipality.
Including traditional leaders, the protestors were mostly clad in red and black attire, holding placards with inscriptions that read “Mercury is poisonous”, “We hate galamsey”, “No galamsey in Berekum” and “let’s stop galamsey together”.
They marched through the major principal streets of the town to register their displeasure over the galamsey activities to protect their ancestral heritage.
Speaking to the media at Berekum, Osabarima Kwabena Owusu, the Chief of Kato, and one of the conveners, said it was disappointing that some chiefs in the area were supporting the illegal miners.
He said the chiefs in the area could not sit unconcerned for the illegal miners to degrade the environment and destroy the vegetative cover and river bodies.
“In fact, some of us will not entertain galamsey on the Berekum land”, he stated, questioning that “If we destroy our lands today, where will the next generation live?
Osabarima Owusu later led the protestors to present a petition to Elder Simon Ampaabeng Kyeremeh, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Berekum East to be forwarded to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
Elder Kyeremeh assured the protestors of the government’s dedication to stem illegal mining in the country, saying that any illegal miner who would be caught in the area would not be spared.
Osabarima Asomah Sabi, the Chief of Senaase, also cautioned the community members who aided the illegal miners to desist from that bad practice in order not to find troubles for themselves.
Prior to the commencement of the protest march, Nana Osei Mensah, the Chief of Nanasuano, a farming community in the Municipality poured libation and prayed for the local deity’s intervention to stem the galamsey activities.
GNA
Edited by Dennis Peprah/Linda Asante Agyei