Mobilise Guards and joint Military and Police to protect forest reserve – MP for Old Tafo

The Minerals Commission should mobilize its guards and a joint team of military and police personnel to protect the forest reserves says the Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Mr Vincent Ekow Assafuah.

According to him, illegal miners were deteriorating every aspect of the country’s forest reserve hence the need to prevent them from taking over the forest reserves.

Speaking on the morning show of an Accra-based Television today, TV3 monitored by RGG News, he explained that it was appalling for anyone to seek a license to mine in a forest as Ghana had limited forest reserves.

“How many reserves do we have as we speak? It seems this illegal mining and miners are deteriorating every aspect of our forest reserve,” he said. 

He stated that some persons were keen on mining in illegal areas such as the Kakum National Park although the government continuously champions the fight against illegal mining.

“I believe that the Minerals Commission should be proactive because we can clearly see that some really want to go and mine at Kakum National Park because we cannot lose Kakum National Park too,” he stated.

 He further explained that although some parts of Atiwa forest have been given out for mining, it does not suggest that anyone can apply for a license to mine at the Kakum National Park.

 He added that the former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng did not provide sufficient evidence in his report to warrant prosecution by the Attorney General hence the assertion that the government did not act on the report was wrong.

 “The consequences of charging people maliciously just before last week was that you cannot be a director of a company just on the altar of you being charged and that was not enough for us to put certain citizens through that so the AG was right in law to say Prof. Boateng should provide the AG with the necessary evidence to aid the AG to be able to do proper investigation,” he said