The Chief of Adausena in the Birim North District of the Eastern Region, Nana Dr. Boni Abankro V, has levelled wild allegations against the Paramount Chief of Kotoku for his involvement in illegal mining activities in the region.

According to him, the Akyem Kotoku chief allegedly supports illegal mining in the community by granting them the authority to mine in the water bodies, which have now been completely destroyed.

Speaking on The Pulse on JoyNews on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, Dr. Abankro stated that residents of the community have been silenced by threats and intimidation from the chief’s personal taskforce members, who do not hesitate to cause harm.

“We were comfortable until one and half years ago the gazette of the almighty paramount chief was given to him after 25 years and the whole thing turned upside. It was unnecessary bullying, intimidating, insults and threatening everybody, setting up taskforces and going on the line himself and doing the galamsey himself. The paramount chief of Kotoku himself is doing the galamsey…,” he alleged.

Dr. Abankro further disclosed that the Kotoku paramount chief is, in partnership with the illegal miners, receiving payments from them and fully arming them.

Narrating the operations of the taskforce, he added that they roam around brandishing their weapons while collecting payments from the illegal miners.

“His taskforce goes around to take money from the galamseyers. The galamseyers go to his palace to pay monies to him. Others make payment through his taskforce he has set and they go about with guns. He has armed the illegal miners [galamseyers] and he doesn’t even come from there…,” he added.

When asked by the host of the program if the incident had been reported to the police, Dr. Abankro stated that several reports had been made, but they had not yielded any positive results.

Well-meaning Ghanaians, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), traditional leaders, and labor unions have mounted pressure on the government to impose a ban on mining to mitigate the harm done to the country’s water bodies.

This comes in response to Ghana Water Limited’s distress calls announcing its inability to supply adequate water to some parts of the Central Region due to the pollution of the Pra River.

MAG/AE

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