The government will consider the payment of compensation to residents of Ntroboso in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region, who had their properties accidentally destroyed during an operation by the anti-illegal mining taskforce.
Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, George Mireku Duker, who disclosed this last Friday, said, payment of the compensation would be possible, subject to the final investigations report by the government.
He said this during a working visit to the community to gain firsthand information on the incident.
Mr Duker said that the government was “prepared to provide support to anyone who lost properties in the incident.”
He, however, lamented that illegal mining activities have degraded the environment and water bodies in the area, especially River Offin.
According to Mr Duker, illegal mining threatened the very survival of the people within the community, and appealed to the chiefs and elders to help the government fight the menace.
He said that the government was working toward scaling up its anti-illegal mining operations in the area and rid the River Offin of all mining equipment.
Mr Duker said that the government had secured a concession for the operationalisation of a community mining scheme by the end of April.
He asked Ghanaians not to view the fight against illegal-small scale mining as an attack on their livelihoods, but rather a measure to protect the country’s resources and improve the mining sector.
The Member of Parliament of Atwima Mponua Constituency, Isaac Asiamah, commended the government for taking steps to address the issue.
He cautioned the residents that they risk drinking unsafe water if they fail to support government to end illegal mining.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS