Prof Boateng interacting wi th security personnel at the programme
Professor
Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, has
advised Ghanaians not to make a mistake by voting the National Democratic
Congress (NDC) back to power since it has nothing good to offer the country.
He
insisted that the pro-poor policies of the current New Patriotic Party (NPP)
government, including the free Senior High School (SHS) and other development
initiatives, would not survive under an NDC government.
The
minister gave the warning when he handed over some speed boats procured by the
government to the Nzema East Municipality and the Shama District Assembly in
the Western Region.
The
speed boats numbering about 10 would assist in the fight against illegal mining
in the Ankobra and Pra rivers.
Prof. Boateng indicated that the speed boats would
be used to patrol the rivers to arrest recalcitrant illegal miners who are
still in the business.
He
said they were also procuring some passenger boats for the two coastal districts
to aid in the transportation of people and goods on the rivers.
“But
before that, the speed boats will be used to detect which areas in the rivers
needed to be dredged and to remove tree stumps from the rivers,” he indicated.
The
Member of Parliament (MP) for Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira, Catherine Afeku, who was at
the handover ceremony, bemoaned the fact that communities that depended on
river Ankobra had been deprived of their source of drinking
water due to excessive illegal mining.
She
said the speed boats would go a long way to help stop some of the illegal
activities.
The
Municipal Chief Executive for Nzema East, Frank Okpeyen, lauded the
government’s plan towards ending illegal mining by establishing district mining
committees in mining areas.
Community Mining
Prof.
Boateng later launched the Community Mining Programme in the Nzema East
Municipality to formalize mining in selected communities.
He stated that the programme would ensure that “mining will be done the right way within the tenets of the law, and will not destroy our natural resources.”
From Emmanuel Opoku, Axim
