Municipal and District Chief Executives have been warned not to joke with the fight against illegal mining in order not to incur the wrath of President Akufo-Addo.

According to the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng the President is resolute and serious about the fight against illegal mining and expects his appointees to play their part in that regard.

He said performance of MDCEs in mining districts will be measured by their effort in helping curb the menace.

Professor Frimpong Boateng made the comments Monday at Kyebi during the inauguration of Municipal and District Committees against illegal Mining for nine (9) mining Districts in the region namely; East Akim, West Akim, Denkyembour, Atiwa, Fanteakwa, Birim north, Birim Central, Akyemansa and Kwaebibirim.

“We are here to inaugurate district committees against illegal mining activities, DCE is the head. You are supposed to make sure that mining activities are done correctly and so it is going to be part of the key performance indicators of DCEs. If the President himself has put his job on the line to stop it, who are you, who am I as a minister to joke with it, it is a very serious matter and let us take it as a survival issue, it is our survival, this is very serious, if you joke with it, the President will kill you, I’m telling you,” he warned.

According to him, the Eastern Region is becoming recalcitrant to the fight against the menace hence the need for the committee to work extra hard.

“I am sad because Eastern region appears to be probably the most difficult region as far as galamsey is concerned and this is the region of our President, the home of Okyenhene Amoatia Ofori Pannin, so what is happening”.

He bemoaned how Ghana has lost its virgin forests as water bodies are being polluted despite its importance to human survival.

“The forest is dwindling, we’ve lost close to 80% of the virgin forests that we had in Ghana. We have degraded the land and we know that about 10% of surface area in Ghana is degraded, that is about 23,000 Square Kilometers. And to out this right, we did the calculation, we need about $650 billion to reclaim the degraded lands in Ghana, where are we going to get the money from,” he wondered.