The President of the National House of Chiefs, Ogyeahohuo Yaw Gyebi II, has backed the decision by the government to burn all excavators confiscated by the military in the fight against illegal mining in the country.

Speaking to the media when the officials from the Forestry Commission called on him at Ahwiaso, Ogyeahohuo Yaw Gyebi, who is also the Paramount Chief of Sefwi Ahwiaso, urged the military and the task force to go tough on galamseyers in order to deter others.

“The action is laudable despite the criticism against it. I don’t agree with such critics because keeping the seized excavators didn’t help us in the past. The 400 that were seized what is the state of it now? So it’s far better if the excavators are torched in the forest upon confiscation; it should be intensified. Already I’ve noticed the action is yielding some results enroute to Ahwiaso on Wednesday. I saw a number of the excavators moved to the roadside, which means they have started leaving the galamsey sites,” Ogyeahohuo Yaw Gyebi II said.

Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul has stated that all the seized galamsey equipment including excavators will be destroyed on-site by the military officers deployed to the galamsey areas.

He said no gadget will be returned to Accra.

“We are not seizing any equipment, no equipment will be returned home, they will all be destroyed on-site. No excavator, nothing will come back home,” he said at a press conference in Accra on Friday, April 30.

About 200 officers of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has begun an operation to forcefully remove all persons and logistics involved in illegal mining on the country’s river bodies.

The exercise began on River Pra in the Western and Central regions.

This, according to the Minister of Information, is in furtherance of the resolutions of the final communique issued after the two-day Stakeholder Dialogue on Small Scale Mining.