The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Water Resources Commission have urged for the urgent arrest of financiers who support illegal miners operating in the Densu River at Potrase near Kyebi in the Eastern Region’s Abuakwa South Municipality.
The Densu River, which provides water to dozens of upstream towns and over 1.5 million Accra residents who rely on the Weija Dam, is under serious threat from illegal mining activities.
These miners have obstructed and altered the flow of the river, putting many people’s access to water at risk.
Speaking with Channel One News on the grave situation, EPA Eastern Regional Director Addo Okyere described the destruction as a national menace and urged prompt action to solve the matter.
“The Potrase situation is bad and then I think I won’t mince words. The situation is bad. The situation is bad in the sense that the Densu River which hasn’t offended any mining company or any galamseyer is now being attacked.
“This river serves a lot of people in the country from the Eastern region or the Akyem area through Nsawam up to the Greater Accra is now being attacked by these galamsey operators and the fear is that the river may dry up during dry the season or now that it is getting polluted. It has become turbid. And if pragmatic action is not taken now, we may cry over the Densu River.”
Mr. Addo Okyere went on to say that the arrests should extend beyond the mere labourers to the true financiers of the illicit activities.
“I think that the prosecution or the arrest should not only be on those that we find on the field. Those that we find on the field, when we get them, we need to find out who sends them there because these people that we meet, these illegal miners, sometimes you look at them and you realize that they cannot even afford to rent an excavator.
“They [labourers] can’t even afford to buy about 100 litres of diesel, let alone gallons, to do the work. It means that there are some financiers behind them. There are some financiers somewhere. So if the law would permit us to look for who is behind, then we can easily get them and stop them from doing that.”
