Chiefs in the Nandom traditional area of the Upper West region have appealed to President John Dramani Mahama not to open the area up for gold mining.
According to them, the area is ecologically fragile due to the effects of climate change and that giving it out for mining operations will have dare consequences on the environment and also displace many farmers in the area.
The paramount chief of the Nandom Traditional Area, Naa Puoure Puobe Chiir VII, made the appeal in a speech read for him at a short ceremony in Nandom when the President commissioned a district assembly office complex for the Nandom District as part of his accounting to the People tour of the Upper West Region.
“…stop the issuance of mining licenses for operation in this district. This is particularly very important to this district because we have a limited land with a rising population and right now our land holdings are shrinking by the day and we know that mining is coming to virtually destroy our lands. For goodness seek, lets emphasis reclamation of the land after mining.”
Available records indicate that there are about 31 licensed gold mining companies prospecting for the mineral in various parts of the Upper West Region.
This, the chiefs said will create economic crisis since many farmers could be deprived of their farmlands.
For his part, the President reiterated his promise to put money the pockets of Ghanaians in his next administration. To this end he said a shea nut factory will be established in the region to empower women in shea nut production.
“I promise that we will build shea nut factories in the three northern regions. We’ve built the fist one in Buipe and as I speak it is operational. It is buying shea nuts and its processing the shea nuts into sheabutter and it is exporting the sheabutter. We are going to build another one in Gwollu during my second term in office and we will build another one in the Upper East Region so that we can enhance the utilisation of our shea nuts because it benefits our mothers and our sisters.”
The president has since ended his tour of the region where he inspected ongoing government projects and commissioned some that are completed.
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By: Latiff Mahama/citifmonline.com/Ghana