All Our Successive Presidents Have Failed To Fight Galamsey Operations–Bibiani Chief Jabs
”Right from former President Rawlings, former President Kufour, Atta Mills came to continue, then Mahama, and now Akufo-Addo, but they have all failed. If they are unable to solve the problem, traditional rulers should take over. If I am appointed Minister of Water Resources, our water bodies will be restored to their natural state in two weeks.
Freeman Koryekpor 
The Chief of Bibiani in Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai Municipality of the Western North Region, Nana Ngoah Anyima Kodom II, have decended heavily on the successive presidents of the Republic of Ghana for failing to explore effective solutions and measures to completely end the illegal mining activities, popularly knows as galamsey operations in the mining prone communities in the country.
”Right from former President Rawlings, former President Kufour, Atta Mills came to continue, then Mahama, and now Akufo-Addo, but they have all failed. If they are unable to solve the problem, traditional rulers should take over. If I am appointed Minister of Water Resources, our water bodies will be restored to their natural state in two weeks.
"If the law is changed and I am appointed as minister, I will only need four helicopters, a few military officers, police officers, and other security agencies to help me deal with the situation," the chief stated.
Mincing no words Nana Ngoah Anyima Kodom II, called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to appoint him as water bodies minister to help restore our water bodies to their natural state.
According to him, galamsey and the destruction of water bodies and farm lands began several years ago, and all government efforts to address it have been futile.
Following this development, the stressed the urgent need for the amendment of the law to allow traditional leaders to handle the situation.
He specifically requests that he be put in charge of the task force, with assistance from the police and other security agencies, to deal with the situation.
He stated that Ghana has many helicopters resting in Accra without benefit, so he will need four of them to patrol through the galamsey-prone areas with support from the security agencies and deal ruthlessly with the illegal miners.
Nana Ngoah Anyimah Kodom II, has the stressed the need for President Akufo-Addo
to fully involve traditional rulers in mining prone communities in the fight against illegal mining activities popularly called galamsey operations in the country.
According to the overlook of Bibiani Divisional Area, it seems that the government military anti-galamsey taskforce has woefully failed the nation and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in fight of the menace and that it is a high time for the central government to take a look at the constitution and other Legislative Instrument (LI) empower chiefs to deal with the illegal mining trouble in the country.
Nana Ngoah Anyimah Kodom II kicked against an old aged tradition where the through the minister of Lands and Natural Resources would grant community mining and mineral rights to individual organisations or personalities to mine in traditional areas without consulting the chiefs and custodians of the lands.
"I am saying that this practice of the government needs to stop because these what are creating illegal mining trouble in the country. So l calling on the government to amend the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) of the country and involve the chiefs in the implementation of the mineral right," Nana Ngoah Anyimah Kodom II stated.
Speaking in an interview with Soireenews.com via telephone call, Nana Ngoah Anyimah Kodom II stressed that the seeming neglect of chiefs in the fight may have resulted in its failure in the past hence the need to do things differently.
He maintained that the chiefs must be made to play a role in the fight against galamsey.
Nana Ngoah Anyimah Kodom II it is now the time for chiefs to be involved in the process of issuance of mining permits, adding that the failure to get chiefs involved in such processes, forces them to get involved in the illegal mining instead, hence jeopardizing the fight.
“The constitution even says all minerals are vested in the president, but we know that the gold is vested in the soil and the local chief is in charge of the soil. A stranger can be given a permit to mine on the chief’s land but the maps and licence for mining are given in Accra. Because the chiefs are not involved, they also join in the galamsey. If the chief is involved in the process, this will not happen,”Nana Ngoah Anyimah Kodom II argued.
Mincing no words, the chief appealed to the government to support him with logistics to help him to flush out the illegal small scale mining activities ongoing in Bibiani and its adjoining communities which are destroying water bodies, farm lands and environment.
The chief expressed grave worry over the increasing rate of the illegal small scale mining activities in the municipality, saying that unavailability of proper logistics had been preventing them not to fight the menace effectively in the municipality.
Nana Ngoah Anyimah Kodom II expressed his capacity to battle the galamsey operators more effectively if he is given the nod and the necessary accoutrements.
In regulating the illegal small scale mining activities, the chief instructed the government to collaborate with traditional authorities.
‘‘It is evident that the government’s measures to fight the galamsey activities are not yielding any fruit. I will entreat the government that it is now a high time for it to involve the traditional authorities. I can make it possible, if I have been made the minister in charge of natural resources in my area,” Nana Ngoah Anyimah Kodom II assured President Akufo-Addo.
Nana Ngoah Anyimah Kodom II stated that; "It’s obvious the fight has not borne any fruit. I will entreat the Akufo-Addo government to sit up and take decision with the chiefs. I strongly believe this can help the fight against the menace.’’
Illegal mining locally referred to as ‘galamsey’, has, over the past few years, dominated national conversations following a major campaign by this journalist highlighting the devastating effects of the practice.
In 2017, Nana Akufo-Addo declared that he was prepared to put his presidency on the line in the fight against galamsey.
His declaration was amidst new measures such as the deployment of police and military personnel to arrest illegal miners across the country and the introduction of a community mining programme aimed at regulating small-scale mining in communities in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Recently, there have been complaints that the water bodies that were regaining their natural state at the height of the fight against galamsey are becoming polluted again due to the increasing activities of illegal miners in various parts of the country.
President Akufo-Addo again made public statements on the development, saying that there is a need for an open discussion on the subject.
The government, through the Ministry for Lands and Natural Resources, subsequently held a two-day National Consultative Dialogue on Small-Scale Mining that, among other things, urged the government to firmly enforce the country’s laws on mining.
As a result of that dialogue, the Lands Minister directed all persons prospecting or carrying out reconnaissance activities in forest reserves to cease within seven days.
The move is said to be one of many to be rolled out as part of efforts to deal with illegal small-scale mining in Ghana.
