CHINESE IN HOT GALAMSEY

…At Wassa Amenfi East District

Report emanating from the Wassa Amenfi East District in the Western Region indicates that some foreign nationals are briskly engaged in illegal mining operations otherwise known as “galamsey.’’

The foreign nationals, the paper can confirm on authority, are mainly Chinese citizens, who have been engaged in this illegal business for the past one year in very remote areas. And owing to the lucrative nature of the business their number which, initially, was less has now soared to over 100.

Our findings established that these Chinese galamsey operators have been residing in Tema. It was also discovered that the excavators used by the Chinese were destroying bridges and other development projects, coupled with the fact that they were not paying any revenue to the state.

Today’s sorties into the Wassa Amenfi East District established that so far their operations are actively centred in some communities in the district. These communities are Wassa Saamang, Wassa Dikoto, Wassa Konkorso and Wassa Adansi. It was gathered that plans are afoot by these Chinese galamsey operators to spread their tentacles to other towns to prospect for gold.

Meanwhile investigations into this illegal mining activity by our Western Regional Chief Reporter, unfolded that one Eric Coffie, who the affected communities disclosed claims to be the National Secretary for Small Scale Mining Association, is alleged to be working closely with these Chinese illegal miners.

According to the affected communities, it was Mr Coffie who teamed with some chiefs in the area and gave out the lands to the Chinese to start their galamsey operations. He is always said to be in close proximity with the Chinese directing them what to do and how to evade the radar of the security services and other regulatory bodies charged with the task of stopping galamsey activities in Ghana.

However, attempts within the past week to reach Mr Coffie proved abortive as he had simply gone incommunicado.

Residents in the communities of the Wassa Amenfi East District have seriously complained that the illegal operation of the Chinese is doing more harm than good to their livelihood. They contended that as a result of the illegal mining, the Ankobra River which is their only source of water is always polluted. That, they explained, is posing grave health hazards to the inhabitants and in the area.

A government appointee in the District, Mr Sampson Damoah, disclosed to Today in a telephone interview that the Chinese later realizing that they were polluting the Ankobra River, decided to compensate them by paying 2,500 Ghana cedis. This, he intimated, the indigenes vehemently rejected. And following their efforts to get rid of the Chinese from the area the inhabitants instead demanded from them the construction of bore holes and the payment of adequate compensation for the destruction of their properties.

“The Chinese till date have not constructed the bore holes demanded by the people in the District and still go about their operations unabated,” Mr Damoah hinted.

In another telephone interview, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Minerals Commission, Mr Benjamin Aryee, confirmed our story by stating that his office has received reports of ongoing illegal mining by some Chinese nationals in the area. He disclosed that following the reports, officers from the Minerals Commission were dispatched to ascertain the veracity of the matter, adding that “their findings later proved the complaints of the communities”.

“It was gathered from my team of officers who visited the district that a Ghanaian citizen brought the Chinese and gave out the lands to enable them start the galamsey business,” Mr Aryee revealed.

He later told the paper that as a result of this his outfit wrote to this person, whose name at the time of the interview he could not remember, to respond to these allegations, but stressed that his office since then has not received any response from this person. He explained that the next line of action is for his office to call in the security agencies to enable the said person to be apprehended.

For his part the President of the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining, an advocacy non-governmental organization, Mr Daniel Owusu Koranteng told this paper that “the attitude of the Chinese is a major challenge.”

“We want the government, the regulatory agencies and the District Assembly in the area to be aware of the challenges these unpatriotic Chinese citizens could pose to citizens of the affected communities.

He, therefore, called for steps by the powers that be to ensure that the illegal mining operations embarked upon by these Chinese are halted.