Government to lease Kakum National Park for mining?

Reports have indicated that one of Ghana’s tourist sites, Kakum National Park, is in the process of being leased to a mining company called High Street Ghana Limited to mine in the forest.

According to some civil society organizations (CSOs) in the country, the move is not acceptable.

Checks on the Minerals Commission disclosed that High Street Ghana Limited has applied to the Commission for a license to mine in the Kakum National Park; a process currently at a validation stage.

The application by High Street Ghana Limited is among 14 applications received by the Minerals Commission from firms to mine in some forest reserves across the country.

At a stakeholder engagement on the new Regulation on Mining in Ghana’s Forest Reserves (LI 2462) 2022 on November 9, the Director of Nature and Development Foundation, Mustapha Seidu, warned that failure to scrap the Legislative Instrument (LI 2462) will lead to wanton destruction of the country’s forest.

“As we speak, there are 14 more applications under different stages of consideration by the Minerals Commission including an application by High Street Ghana Limited to mine in the Kakum National Park.

“That application is under the validation stage and according to the concession map provided, it will cover about 24% of the reserve. So, in all, there are about 15 forest reserves that the license will cover,” he said.

“This LI now needs the immediate attention of all stakeholders. I dare say that we already have enough on our hands concerning the destruction of forests by illegal miners.

“If in less than one year of coming into force of LI 2462, we are seeing this massive legal destruction of our forest, we can imagine what will happen in the next five years or decade,” Seidu said.

SSD/NOQ

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