“Our decision remains unchanged; Nana Mamponghene and Nananom of the Mampong Traditional Area do not want any mining activities (Galamsey) to happen on our land.”
This was a declaration Nana Akwasi Akuoko Kodua I, the Kyeremfasohene of Mampong, read in order to reaffirm their opposition to any mining activity in the area in light of the devastation it has caused in various communities in the country.
At a press conference, at the Mamponghene palace, Nana Kodua I recalled an instant in which the Minerals Commission made arrangements with a specific private agency for a gold concession on a piece of land in the area.
According to him, Mamponghene, Daasebre Osei Bonsu II, had to write to the government and the minerals commission with copies to the appropriate institutions on his strong opposition to mining activities on his territory when the said latter came to the attention of the traditional council in 2021.
“With the support of the government, the wish of Nana Mamponghene and Nananom of the Mampong Traditional Area came to past,” he said.
Nana Kodua the first stated that when the Assembly got a second letter on the same subject dated November 9, 2022, anticipating a response from them (The Assembly) within 21 days, it came as a surprise to them.
In a letter to the minister of lands and natural resources dated November 24 and signed by Mamponghene, the traditional council expressed the traditional area’s opposition to mining since it believed that such indulgence would worsen rather than improve their life.
Part of the letter said, “We Nananom of the Mampong Traditional Council stand by our joint inalienable Resolution not to allow any Destructive Surface Minerals Explorations within the Mampong Traditional Area as read to you and His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the closed door meeting of the National House of Chiefs’ held in Kumasi on Wednesday October 5, 2022.”
A cordial request was made in the letter for them to kindly ask the Chief Executive Officer to stop any preparations for mining operations in the Mampong Traditional Area.
“We watch television and listen to radio every day, we have witnessed how galamsey has doomed and caused suffering to some towns and villages in the country. We don’t want same to happen on our land,” Nana Kodua the first said.
He stated that the traditional council will not permit any activity to deplete its natural resource in any way because Mampong is the primary provider of water to nearby cities inside the Mampong Traditional Area.
“Mampong Traditional Area consists of not only Mampong but Ejura, Jamasi, Effiduase, Apaa, Yonso, Kyekyewere and Akrofos and it is the main supplier of water to our neighboring towns including Nsuta and the likes and we cannot watch our rivers and water bodies get spoiled in the name of Galamsey. No we cannot be the genesis of this destruction.”
The government, the mines commission, and all other pertinent institutions are requested by the traditional council to halt all efforts to set up mining in the area.
