"Any of my chiefs who is found culpable of galamsey should consider him/her dethroned” — Paramount Chief of Lower Axim warns

Awulae Attibrukusu III, the Paramount Chief of the Lower Axim Traditional Area, has charged traditional rulers in Ghana, especially those under his jurisdiction to refrain from illegal mining activities popularly called galamsey.

They should rather channel their support towards government's effort to fight the menace which was wrecking much havoc on river bodies and forest reserves.

He said that traditional rulers should be the first to act as vanguards to nip galamsey activities in the bud in their respective communities.

According to Awulae Attibrukusu III, galamsey activities have dire consequences on the country with babies born with deformities and causing pre-mature deaths as well as degrading lands and polluted water which threaten the very survival of Ghanaians.

Addressing a traditional council meeting in Axim, Awulae Attibrukusu III gave the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, a pat on his shoulder for the bold initiatives taken so far with the training of 453 water guards to abate the nuisance in the country’s water bodies and forest reserves.

The Paramount Chief said the help of traditional rulers as well as the anti-galamsey task force, galamsey activities will be a thing of the past to restore water bodies and forest reserves to their natural state.

He reminded traditional rulers who indulged in galamsey or lease part of their lands for that activity, of an arrest and prosecution as well as destoolment.

“Any of my chiefs who is found culpable of involving himself or herself in galamsey should consider him/her dethroned”.

Awulae Attibrukusu III wondered why Chiefs sit there for machines such as excavators to be smuggled into the bush and river bodies to start galamsey.

He also asked government to ban the importation of excavators and other machines into the country and seize those already in the country, if the fight against galamsey was anything to go by.

GNA