Former Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim in the Western Region Joe Baidoo Ansah is proposing the inclusion of traditional leaders in the country’s gold-mining licensing process.
According to him, such powers will embolden traditional leaders to participate fully in the fight against illegal small scale mining.
“Because they are not part of this critical process, when they see people in their backyard, they are not able to fight them off because they are unsure whether indeed they have the right to be there or not.
“But if they have a record of all mining companies and their mining right status and are part of the process then they will be able to know and go after those who are illegal and those who are not. At this point they don’t know, neither do they have the power to go after them.”
The former Kwesimintsim MP, who was speaking on the sidelines of the Western Region Development Forum organised by the Nana Kobina Nketsia IV Trust, also reinforced the need for the fight against illegal small-scale mining to be given more credence at the local level.
“You can’t fight illegal mining nationally and succeed. It should be a local thing. By this, I mean the local architecture developed for the fight should be seen to be working and doing so independently.”
He continued: “So when people including the Chiefs are empowered at the local level, they won’t allow people to come and do it. If they really know what they are destroying, because they are destroying our livelihoods, they are destroying our lives.
Chiefs bane of underdevelopment in Western Region
Joe Baidoo Ansah shrugged off criticism that the division among traditional leaders is the cause of the Region’s underdevelopment.
What is rather at stake, for him, is that Western Region contributes so much but has little to show for and do not see why division among traditional leaders should stop any government from given the region what is due it.
“Yes, I agree that we have to put our house in order. But I don’t think the division should stand in the way of anything. If there will be any development it should be from government. And the reason should be the reason that we are contributing so much to government and so we deserve an equal contribution back.”
He argues: “Look at our roads, because of the extractive industries taking this and that around it has seriously impacted on our roads. As a result of some industries, some people have lost their cocoa farms. The environment, the air are all polluted become of these activities which generate huge amounts of revenue for government. However these things we produce are they same things destroying the region. So while we are producing, the resources must be used to put the things that are being wronged right. It is only fair that we demand that the region deserves special attention from government.”