Government will descend heavily on illegal Miners- Vice President

Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Saturday announced that government would soon descend on both natives and foreigners who are engaged in illegal mining.

He said government would work out modalities with traditional authorities of the mining areas to weed out all the illegal workers whose activities were becoming inimical and injurious to Ghanaians.

Vice President Mahama announced this when he joined the chiefs and people of Akyem-Tafo in the Eastern Region to celebrate the Ohumkan festival on the theme: “Peace; A Vital Tool for Community Development.”

The festival which is celebrated with traditional drumming and dancing is to usher in the lifting of the ban on the eating of new yam and the offering of prayers for unity and bumper harvest for the farmers in subsequent years.

Vice President Mahama expressed worry by the rate of illegal activities especially with the involvement of foreign nationals and gave the assurance that government would face them head-on to ensure that the mining environment was sanitised.

He expressed dissatisfaction at the poor work that Ghanaian road contractors were doing, adding, “Much as we give you contracts to build your capacities and provide jobs for Ghanaians, you will all need to justify that inclusion by executing your work efficiently to the satisfaction of beneficiaries of the projects.”

The Vice President promised that government would maintain its grip on security networks in the country to ensure that there was peace before, during and after the December general election.

“Government will ensure that there is peace in this year’s elections and I want to advise all of you against visiting inflammatory political statements on your opponents during the exercise.”

He called on them to revive the spirit of self-help in their areas since it was not possible for government alone to provide all development projects in the country.

Vice President Mahama urged the people to use the festival to showcase Ghanaian traditions and culture to establish the national identity.

Victor Smith, Eastern Regional Minister, called on chiefs in the area to eschew chieftaincy issues that tend to undermine unity and work in collaboration with government to achieve development goals.

He said Ghana had enjoyed relative peace over the years and they should not allow themselves to be sacrificed on party politics in the December elections.

Osabarima Adusei Peasah IV, Paramount chief of Akyem-Tafo called on government to provide educational facilities that would help raise the standards of education in the country.

He also appealed to government to upgrade the local health facility into a hospital and work on the main Akyem-Tafo road to Koforidua, which is in a deplorable state.**