News:
August 10, 2017
Eastern Regional Minister, Eric Kwakye Darfour says water bodies in the region are becoming significantly cleaner after the operations of the Ministry of Natural Resources to halt the activities of illegal mining activities in the region.
He noted that the operation of the task force from April to July ending this year, “we are witnessing significate reduction in bear land operation of this illegal mining activities”.
“However we were told those engage in mining on the waters some very deep, it was difficult for the security agencies to halt their activities. They use special equipment to stay on the surface of the water and mine the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry did not have equipment that could reach out to them on the surface of the water, particularly with the Birim River it covered a wider areas and was expansive”.
They see you, you can also see them but you cannot reach out to them and you cannot “shot to kill them” either, he said.
According to the Minister with the inter-ministerial task force in place comprising both the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry, Environment Science and Technology who are well equipped to now combat and move to grounds to put an end to the activities of these illegal mining activities things will improve further.
He further added that with the inter-ministerial taskforce in place River Birim, Pra and the Densu will see very much improvement in terms of the water quality.
By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com