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Galamsey fight yields results - Bia, Tano rivers clear up

Galamsey fight yields results - Bia, Tano rivers clear up

The Tano and Bia rivers which were heavily polluted through the activities of illegal miners in the Western Region have started regaining their natural state.

The rivers which had turned milky-brown, with high turbidity because of galamsey activities have now cleared up and gaining back their natural colour.

The clearing up of the rivers followed the government's renewed fight against illegal mining, which saw the deployment of the Operation Halt team to weed out galamsey operators from water bodies.

This came to light when the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, visited the rivers to check on the current state, reports Graphic Online's Timothy Ngnenbe.

Minister's excitement

Mr Jinapor, who is on a one-day tour of the Western-North Region, could not hide his joy after realising the positive results from the galamsey fight.

He described the clearing up of the Tano and Bia rivers as a big boost to the fight against the menace.

"This is the clearest river I have seen since my assumption of office as a minister, and I excited about it, " he said.

Galamsey not over

He, however, stressed that the clearing up of the rivers did not mean that the fight against galamsey had been won.

Mr Jinapor admitted that more work remained to be done to totally protect the country's natural resources and the environment from destruction.

He observed that although the Operation Halt team had done much to stop the activities of illegal mining, the actual operations to sanitise the system depended on the Regional Security Council (REGSEC).

The Minister commended the Western Regional Coordinating Council for the good work and called for a sustained effort to ensure that the rivers fully returned to their original state.

He said the good work that resulted in the positive results within the Western Region needed to be extended to the other areas to ensure that all of the country's water bodies regained their natural state.

Strategic collaboration

The Western North Regional Minister, Mr Richard Ebbah Obeng commended the Lands and Natural Resources Minister for the renewed efforts to fight illegal mining and protect the country's natural resources.

He said the strategic collaboration between the Lands ministry and the Regional Security Councils (REGSECs) across the country to fight the menace would yield the needed results.

Mr Obeng said some structures the minister had put in place at the local level had started yielding results, leading to the restoration of the Tano and Bia rivers, which were massively polluted by illegal mining activities.

The Mineral Commission's District Manager for Bibiani, Mr Emmanuel Bain, said the restoration of the river came on the back of the collaboration between the Western North Regional Coordinating Council, the Minerals Commission in the region and largely because of the policy directives by the government.

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