Illegal sand winners destroy farmlands in Gomoa East
The Gomoa East District Security Council has begun an operation to flush out illegal sand winners who are destroying agricultural lands in the district.
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The activities of about 15 unlicensed illegal sand winners operating in several communities in the district have led to the destruction of so many acres of arable lands.
The perpetrators who only operate at night have managed to destroy yam, pineapple and coconut farms.
Visit
The council, led by the District Chief Executive, Mr Benjamin Otoo, included the Swedru Divisional Commander of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), Alhaji Mohammed Kpelle Guba, the District Coordinating Director, Mr Emmanuel Baisie, the Presiding Member, Mr Frederick Joe Arthur, and other officers of the assembly.
They visited some communities affected by sand winning activities to have a first-hand look at the situation.
The communities the council visited were Gomoa Abaasa, Gomoa Okyereko, Gomoa Dominase, Gomoa Akotsi, Gomoa Ojobi, Gomoa Fetteh and Gomoa Odembo.
While on the tour, six illegal sand winners were arrested and two pay loader vehicles and a tipper truck were also impounded.
Other illegal sand winners, who got wind of the visit, bolted before the team got to their respective sites.
The situation on the ground is very worrying as lands that can be used for agricultural purposes have been destroyed by the illegal sand winners.
According to information gathered by the Daily Graphic, lands in the areas are released to sand winners by some chiefs and are placed under the protection of land guards.
It is acknowledged that the sand winners went about their activities boldly because they had the backing of some chiefs in the affected towns.
Affected farmers visited their farms in the morning only to realise that all their crops and land were damaged by sand winners.
Farmer laments
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the chief of Gomoa Adawukwaa, Togbe Ahiatrogah II, whose farm had been destroyed, strongly criticised the activities of sand winners in the area who destroyed farm crops and lands without any compensation to the owners.
“Sand winning is a big problem in the area and must be addressed by the government in order not for the livelihoods of farmers to become negatively affected.”
He urged the government to take steps to quickly stop illegal sand winning or else farmers might not get lands for their farming as lands were continuously being degraded.
Chief of Abaasa
The Chief of Gomoa Abaasa, Nana Okwadum IX, appealed to the government to fight sand winning with the same zeal it was fighting galamsey since both activities were destroying agricultural lands across the country.
He said the major occupation of the people in the Gomoa District was farming and as such it was important that lands were protected to encourage more people to go into agriculture.
He urged the elders of the town to desist from releasing lands to sand winners since the area was endowed with fertile lands for crop production.
District chief executive
Mr Benjamin Otoo said it was crucial to stop illegal sand winning or else agriculture in the district would be greatly affected as well as pose a threat to the very survival of the people.
He observed that if that was not done the district could not benefit from government’s Planting for Food and Jobs programme since all lands would have been lost to illegal sand winning activity.
He said the assembly would not sit down unconcerned for the illegal activity on continue, adding that “the assembly would take swift and necessary steps to protect all farm lands in the district”.
According to him, the assembly would assess the impact of sand winning activities in the district and take measures to restore and protect the lands.