Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Friday paid a courtesy call on Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, to brief him on government’s planned mining and forest sub-sector reforms.
The courtesy call was to seek Otumfuo’s support and guidance towards achieving the policies and programmes outlined by the Ministry.
The Lands Minister eulogised Asantehene for his outstanding and exemplary leadership, which was manifested in ensuring litigation-free land-related matters in the Ashanti Region.
Mr Buah lauded Asantehene for some of the major interventions he made over the years.
The Minister decried the devastating impact of galamsey, noting that 44 of the country's 288 forest reserves had been devastated by illegal mining activities, with turbidity level of the major water bodies moving from 5,000 NTU to 12000.
Mr Buah outlined some immediate and radical initiatives taken by the government to address the illegal mining menace.
He mentioned the establishment of an 18-member working committee of experts, to review the licensing regime, re-classification of the mining categories, and overhauling of the Community Mining Schemes.
“We are grateful for Otumfuo advice and support for the reset agenda that we have embarked on.
“We’ve laid out a plan to deal with key initiatives, and it started with the inauguration of the 18-member working committee. We are also reclassifying the mining categories and introducing medium-scale mining," he stated.
Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II commended the Lands Minister for the visit and expressed confidence in him to deliver on his mandate.
He urged heads of Agencies and other officials under the ministry to give the Minister the necessary support.
Otumfuo admonished Armah-Kofi Buah to address the root cause of the illegal mining menace.
He asserted that if the youth in the mining areas were exposed to meaningful and sustainable sources of livelihoods, they would resist the temptation of mining in water bodies and forest reserves.
He also encouraged the government to go after the “big fishes” in the galamsey business, and prosecute them, instead of focusing only on the youth involved in the illegal act.
He urged the Ministry to develop an alternative livelihood programme to cater for their basic needs.
On the issue of public lands, Otumfuo advised the Minister to ensure that the phenomenon of indiscriminate sale of public lands to political exposed persons and should be halted under his tenure
He commended the Minister for the aggressive afforestation initiative and pledged his support for the project, describing the “Tree of Life” initiative as laudable.
GNA
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