I Am Committed To Fight Against Illegal Mining --Tarkwa-Nsuaem MCE Fires At Critics
He has assured chiefs and people in the municipality that his outfit will do all within their means to win the crusade and thus called for the support and cooperation of all toward achieving that set objective.
Freeman Koryekpor 
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly in the Western Region, Mr Benjamin Kessie, has made a passionate appeal to the chiefs, queen-mothers, custodian owners of the lands and other traditional office holders in Tarkwa Traditional Area to join hands with him to win the fight against illegal mining activities to save the environment and water bodies in the municipality.
The MCE who doubles as the Chairman of Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Security Executive Committee (MUSEC) has reiterated his commitment to working hand-in-hand with Chiefs, traditional rulers and all stakeholders in the fight against illegal mining, popularly called “galamsey.”
According to his,it is obvious that, if we are to win the fight, you and I have to take the lead to collaborate closely to do so.
The President who was addressing the House on yesterday on the back of recent criticism of the government for its inability to curb the illegal activities that are destroying water bodies and farming lands.
The MCE was responding to the media publication being attributed to a Chief of Dompim-Pepesa, Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV that the Western Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, a Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mr. George Mireku-Duker and a Municipal Chief Executive are into illegal small-scale mining.
Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV told the media on Monday, October 10, 2022, that he had incontrovertible evidence to implicate the trio.
He has subsequently dared the trio to sue him over the allegations he has made, stressing that already he had become the subject of threat following his resolve to root out galamsey from his jurisdiction.
"I know not of any company, but I know of the very people who are behind the operations of 'galamsey' in my area. First and foremost, the Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, is involved.
"The MP for the area, Tarkwa Nsuaem, Honorable George Mireku-Duker, is also involved, and the MCE, Benjamin Kessie, is also involved. I have told you I am not going to disclose my arsenals to you," he said.
But in a quick rebuttal, the MCE denied the media reports suggesting that, he is involved in illegal small scale mining activities popularly known as ‘Galamsey operations.’
He stressed that "I want to tell the general public, the chiefs, queen-mothers, youths and stakeholders in Tarkwa Nsuaem municipality that I am not into galamsey and that l would be the last person to engage in galamsey operations in the area,” he said in an interview with Soireenews.com.
"I am one of the government appointees who has been leading the Tarkwa-Nsuaem community fight against illegal gold mining activities commonly known as ‘galamsey’ with integrity and determination. So can how can l turn my back to involve myself in illegal small scale mining activities. The statement of the chief should not be taken serious,' the MCE noted.
He has assured chiefs and people in the municipality that his outfit will do all within their means to win the crusade and thus called for the support and cooperation of all toward achieving that set objective.
According to the MCE, since the President Akufo-Addo placed ban on the illegal small scale mining activities and subsequently lifted the ban on the operation, he has been working closely with the police officers and military galamsey taskforce including mining regulatory institutions to visit some mining prove communities within his jurisdiction to clamp down on the operations of the galamseyers.
He pointed out that "l have visited and continued to visit the mining prone communities to engaged the chiefs and community members and discussed with them on how they can have local actions to help the government in fighting against the illegal miners in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality."
"I have been to all communities along the Bonsa River. And sometimes l went to these communities together with the officials of Minerals Commission, Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Forestry Commission, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and including solders and police officers to drum home the campaign against the illegal activities of miners," the MCE reaffirmed.
"I also used my visit to sanitise the miners and members of the communities on the needs to preserve water bodies, forest range reserves the environment from being destroyed by the activities of illegal small scale miners.
"As l speak we have arrested many illegal miners who are currently in court for their involvement in the illegal small scale mining activities. We have decommissioned or destroyed dozens of changfans and other equipment for illegal mining and seized excavators. We are doing everything possible to ensure that we win the fight against galamsey operations in Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality," the MCE stated.
He pointed that they "realized that the fight against the galamseyers if the community members didn't support the government there are no ways and mean we can survive in the fight against illegal small scale miners."
According to him, his outfit has intensified these educational systems because we have noticed that some of the chiefs and his followers had been entertaining the miners in their communities because they are directingly benefiting from the illegal miners who are living in their communities.
...so we realized that it is the high time for us to actively engage them so that they cannot stop shielding the illegal miners in their communities to do and destroy our water bodies and environment. We believe strongly that by taking these measures and steps, we can surely win the fight against the miners," he further emphasized.
He added that "The fight against the illegal miners is a complex fight so if you are attacking the politicians, l think you are attacking the wrong persons, because the politicians were just few in this country.
