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An Accra High Court has remanded into custody five Chinese nationals including one female called En Huang aka Aisha Huang aka Yaa Asantewaa, a supposed Queenpin behind galamsey operations in the Ashanti Region.

Her accomplices are Gao Jin Cheng 45, Lu Qi Jun, 39, Habin Gao,  26 Zhang Zhang Pen 23 are to reappear on May 23.

No charges have been preferred against the accused persons.

However the court presided over by Mr Justice Charles Edward Baiden in his ruling on an application for bail upheld the Ghana Immigration Service submissions that they were likely to interfere with investigations.

Mr Peter Nantuo counsel for the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) prayed the court to remand them into custody as the activities of the accused persons was harming the environment in the region and also for investigations to continue.

According to counsel, Aisha for example, was arrested up by the GIS officials in a four hour standoff.

Defense counsel, Mr. Daniel Awuku was not enthused about the media reportage on Aisha

Mr.Awuku his clients were ready to cooperate with the GIS and avail themselves whenever they were required by the GIS.

Counsel contended that the GIS had all the logistics to carry out any investigations without the court remanding the accused into custody.

The five were rounded up by the GIS in the Ashanti Region following their alleged involvement in illegal mining in the region.

They were transferred to Accra by the GIS for further investigations.

source: GNA

Sanitation and Water Resources Minister, Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda, has announced the decision to sink 25,000 boreholes and construct 300 small water systems to expand access to quality water supply across the nation.

This, he said, formed part of the government’s “water and sanitation for all” programme.

He was addressing the biennial review conference of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CSWA) at Fumesua in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality.

“Rural water and sanitation services provision; current role of CWSA, gaps and the way forward for effective and sustainable delivery” was the theme chosen for the five-day meeting.

It provided the platform to deliberate on the achievements, the challenges and how to deal with these, as well as the implementation of future projects.

Mr. Adda spoke of the determination of the ministry to go the extra mile to ensure the safety of water supplied to the population.

He made reference to the findings of a study by a team of researchers from the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany, that showed that water from boreholes drank by the people contained tadpoles and chemicals and said that gave cause for   concern.

That was why everything would be done to make sure that the right things were done and standards kept, he added.

The Minister hinted of strong push towards the promotion of public-private partnership, to fund the urban water sub-sector and said good progress was being made.

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) had already responded – made available GHȼ2 million.

He encouraged the CWSA to work closely with research institutions to improve the quality of water.

He reminded the Agency that issues relating to water, sanitation and hygiene had assumed greater importance and urgency and that it could not be business usual.

Mr. Worlanyo Kodjo Siabe, Chief Executive of CWSA, noted that funding had remained a huge challenge, something, which was making it difficult to effectively monitor water, sanitation and hygiene services.

The funding constraint was such that it had over the last years been unable to provide new boreholes and toilets in four of the 10 regions.

He said given the needed support it could help to substantially bring down open-defecation in the communities.

Source: GNA

Government has called on all African foreign Missions in Ghana to support the fight against illegal mining, known as galamsey, to save Ghana from the current environmental destruction.

The missions are also being urged to educate their citizens who wish to engage in the mining business in the country to get the right authorisation and mine in a more sustainable way.

During an interactive session with heads of African Diplomatic Missions in Accra on Tuesday, Mr John Peter Amewu, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources reiterated the fact that the government was not anti-mining but was worried about the devastation of farm lands and pollution of water bodies as a result of illegal mining.

He said the government was therefore taking measures to curb the illegal activity, emphasising that small-scale mining was reserved for only Ghanaian citizens.

“The Government believes in the private sector participation in businesses, but we are totally against the extent of degradation and pollution of the land and water bodies. And so, together as neighbours we need to come together and deal with the situation,” Mr Amewu said.

The interactive session was hosted by Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botcwey, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Integration to share thoughts on strengthening and advancing relations with all foreign missions and their respective countries.

It was used to brief the Missions on government foreign policy and other commitments that Ghana had with countries and entities like UN, AU and ECOWAS.

Government also used the opportunity to discuss the crucial issue of illegal mining with the missions and sought their support to end it.

Mr Amewu said if the regional block did not assist the country to curb the menace, very soon it would affect other neighbouring countries and roll over to more countries, as in the case of Cote d’Ivoire.

He mentioned citizens of Mali, Nigeria, Togo and Ghanaians as well as some Chinese, among others as those who had over the period engaged in illegal mining and thus causing the destruction to the environment.

He said most of the 230,000 kilometre square land area of the country had been affected by galamsey activities in all eight out of the 10 regions of the country.

The Minister said there were very good mining laws in the country but there had been difficulty in implementing them.

However, government under its newly adopted five-year Multi Mining Integrated Project (MMIP, would implement the law and also provide other alternative livelihoods for miners.

Mr Isaac Karikari, a Director at the Lands Ministry in a presentation said a total of $2.3 billion left Ghana in 2016 alone through galamsey activities without any royalties paid to the State.

He announced that the laws on mining would be strictly enforced after the period of sensitisation was over and the provision of alternative jobs was provided, adding that foreigners who engage in illegal mining could be imprisoned for a term of 20 years, while a Ghanaian could be imprisoned for five years.

Meanwhile, Ms Botchwey has assured the missions of government commitment towards its foreign policy objectives of neutrality, good neighbourliness and maintenance of friendly relations with all peace-loving states, with priority being given to relations with the immediate geographical neighbours of the West African sub-region.

Source: GNA

According to the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Kweku Baako, she has a strong influence, links and network in the security services as well as the officials of the past and current administrations.

She has been arrested on three occasions and has been released on all occasions, he said.

“This particular Chinese woman, I have it on record, was arrested three times during the previous administration and three times she was released.

She is a very powerful woman who operates more within the Ashanti Region, especially Kumasi. She’s got connections from my own checks also in this administration. She appears to be a very smooth operative,” Kweku Baako said on Joy FM’s Newsfile on Saturday.

“She’s built a network across the political divide. She’s got her agents placed in state institutions particularly the security agencies and she’s able to wriggle herself out of danger or trouble anytime she’s touched. I hope it doesn’t happen this time round.”

What is her strength?

Mr Baako says she has built up a system of blackmail in which she uses to silence decision makers. And she has got accomplices.

She has video and audio recordings of power people entrusted with the responsibility of decision making.

According to him, Asia Huang has sex video recordings of them as well as compromising voice recordings of these powerful decision makers.

He said: “…She’s got accomplices – the other one is called Monica, the other the name has slipped me because it’s a Chinese name. Part of their strength is that they built up a certain system of blackmailing. They are women so I’m not going to use certain words, I’m not going to say certain things.

As to when they came into town, what they intend to do, who they were, what they were, had nothing to do with galamsey, but gradually they moved from that particular trade into galamsey.

“They have video and audio recordings of people who are powerful, videos of people who we have entrusted with responsibilities to protect us as a people. That’s how dangerous the game is and that is where the strength and power of these Chinese women are coming from.”

“They have them in videos containing sex. They have video and audio recordings of their conversations with some strategically placed persons from then and now and some they are having sex with. Also, they have girls, some mainly Chinese who they brought into town to sleep with these big men well placed and they use it to blackmail our big men into submission.”

She is said to be behind the migration of thousands of Chinese nationals in Ghana.

Those she brings include sex workers, investors and poverty stricken individuals who are looking for opportunities.

The Child Rights International (CRI), a non-governmental Organisation has called on the government to make its Social Protection (SP), interventions known in the handling and the stoppage of ‘galamsey’ activities in the country.

The Organisation, which based its call on facts gathered from a survey it conducted in eight districts to ascertain the prevalence of child labour in mining communities, said over 2,092 children were found to be at high risk of hazardous works, including ‘galamsey’ operations in these area.

It said in the districts, which involved the Atwima Mponua, Atwima Nwabiagya, Bibiani, Asunafo South, Asutifi North and South, as well as the Ahafo Ano North and South, there were at least a family member in each of the sampled households who was engaged in illegal mining, and a total of 30 children identified to be working constantly in ‘galamsey’.

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Mr Bright Appiah, the Executive Director, Child Rights International, who made the call at a press conference in Accra Thursday, applauded government for the tremendous intervention in stopping the ‘galamsey’ menace, and pledged the total support of the CRI in fighting the course to the end.

He, however, said in carrying out measures to halt ‘galamsey’ “we have to give attention to Social and Child Protection issues in the mining areas”, with the knowledge that children were also involved in the practice, which was a threat not only to their lives, but also to the country as it stood the risk of losing great leaders by record of a high school dropout rate.

The country would soon face the consequences of witnessing increases in children’s vulnerability to diseases due to the pollution of the environment if the situation was not quickly addressed, he said.

Mr Appiah said there was the need for government to look at the social protection implications on people, including children and put in place sustainable livelihood empowerment programmes as an alternative, to draw the affected into the social safety net.

He suggested to the government to take the appropriate steps to investigate the condition of children and households in the ‘galamsey’ endemic communities in order to support their welfare, rehabilitation and re-integration into mainstream society.

He said identifying such children would enable the government to withdraw them and develop remediation plans for their families.

He asked that much engagement and collaboration with formal and informal community structures, including traditional systems, Child Protection Committees, School Management Committees, Social Welfare as well as the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service, and building their capacities to be pursued to achieve effective outcomes.

Source: GNA

Lands and Natural Resources minister John Peter Amewu has directed Shanxii Mining Ghana Limited in the Upper East region to stop work following the tragic death of seven miners.

The death of 35-year-old Samuel Bang, an employee of the Shaanxi mining is the latest addition to six other deaths reported in the area since May 2013.

Bang was buried alive while drilling. The pit in which he was working suddenly caved in.

It took the search party close to 24 hours before his body was retrieved following what the company has said was an accident.

“It is purely a mining accident. It is not a case of gas inhalation where someone has failed to do hazards assessment, ” Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Shaanxi Mining Company Mr. Maxwell Wooma has said.

Underground mine manager at Shanxii Mining Thomas Tii at a media briefing said the company is cooperating with the BNI which is investigating the circumstances that led to the death.

“Yesterday we were invited by the BNI [and] this morning we stopped operations underground”.

But the tragedy appears to have become a rallying point for protest by some youths in Talensi who have accused the company of negligence.

The accusation of foul play was brought to the media’s attention by youths in Talensi who have constituted themselves into a pressure group, Concerned Citizens of Talensi.

At a press conference last Tuesday, they listed a litany of complaints against the company which is a mine support service firm providing services to two licensed small scale miners at Gbane.

They say the death of the 35-year old is the seventh since 2013.

A report by Today newspaper has said in 2015, 16 miners working for the company were rushed to the Upper East Regional Hospital after inhaling what was suspected to be a poisonous gas from a mining explosion.

In April 2015, two miners died and eight were critically injured from the gas of an explosive substance, the paper has reported.

On Wednesday April 2, 2014, two miners were allegedly gassed to death and one severely injured. In October the same year, three miners lost their lives when a mining pit collapsed on them.

Another tragedy was reported to have occurred in May 26, 2013, when three small-scale miners suspected to be intruders from another concession perished after a gas from an explosive engulfed a tunnel that belonged to Shaanxi Mining.

The Concerned Citizens of Talensi have questioned the credibility of the company and demanded that it be removed from the area.

They described the Chinese-owned company as ‘wicked’ and their operations ‘illegal’.

“…even though, the Minerals and Mining (Support Services) Regulations 2012, LI 2174, seeks to preserve Mining Support Services to only Ghanaian local companies, Shaanxi Mining Ghana Ltd, has been allowed and shielded to operate.”

They claimed the mines support company is actually into mining and has trespassed into other mining concessions, triggering clashes with other small scale miners.

However, at a media briefing yesterday, operators of the Shanxii mining company insisted that they could not have caused the deaths of the miners.

Meanwhile workers of the Shanxii mining company are unhappy about the indefinite closure of the company. They have been expressing their frustrations to Joy News.

“I am very, very sad. This work is helping this town a lot more than the galamsey (illegal) mining”, a female employee said.

She said deaths over the years have been caused by the intrusive activities of illegal miners.

“They have created a hole linking to Shanxii Mining causing their own death” she told Joy News’ Albert Sore.

Pleading for a resumption of work, the employee told Joy News, “please we are on our knees…me like this, I don’t think I can survive [ if the company remains closed]”

The Development Research and Advocacy Centre (DRAC), a Non-Governmental Organization, operating in northern Ghana, has called on government not to be dissuaded and detracted by the threat issued by some voters on the fight against illegal small scale mining activities in the country.

‘The threat of voter disaffection from the illegal mining community must not detract the government’s attention from this trajectory of national importance, for, those who support this course and in whose interest the fight against illegal mining is on are more than those who are against it’.

The NGO in a press statement issued and signed by its Pogrammes Manager, Mr Aberinga Milton, stressed that it was very shocking news to hear some prominent members from some institutions like the Chamber of Mines and some traditional rulers calling on Government to stop the fight against the phenomenon.

‘We condemn unequivocally, the appeal made by some Chiefs to government to give illegal miners a chance. As custodians of our sacred culture, tradition and God-given resources, our Chiefs have a duty to protect our eco-system. It therefore comes as a shock to us when some of them are pleading with government to give chance for the wanton destruction of our God given natural resources for selfish reasons,’ the statement said.

The statement read, ‘DRAC wishes to urge the government not to be detracted by the unfortunate and unpatriotic comments of some Ghanaians who appear to be sitting on the fence when the larger population of this country has expressed their passion and resolve to end illegal mining in Ghana. DRAC considers the ultimatums given by some groups and individuals to the government to end the activities of illegal mining as rather unpatriotic and hypocritical. People should speak only if they have something to say and can say it constructively.’

It stressed that the very survival of the environment, especially the country’s water bodies was already threatened by the effects of global warming and indicated that many countries around the globe are vigorously developing and implementing mitigating strategies in order to take control of the welfare of their people.

The NGO further expressed concern about the spate of pollution of drinking water sources and the wanton destruction of the forests by illegal miners all in the name of seeking wealth, and warned that if stringent measures were not put in place to tackle the menace, a time would come when water would become more expensive for the ordinarily person to be able to avoid.

Whilst commending the government, the security agencies and the media for leading the crusade against the phenomenon, it called on government to beware of some selfish government officials, politicians, the security agencies and traditional rulers who will want to undermine the course.

Besides, it stressed the need for the security agencies and the judiciary to rally strongly behind the government and said the media could play key role by intensifying their efforts at exposing individuals and groups who were behind the scenes and destroying the environment.

‘DRAC wishes to commend the government and its partners for the laudable decision especially when this is coming at a time the very survival of the environment and especially water bodies are already threatened by the effects of global warming and many countries around the globe are vigorously developing and implementing mitigating strategies in order to take control of the welfare of their people. It is therefore good news and wind of hope that for the first time in our political history we are getting signal that the state is resolved to assert its authority and right to legitimate violence’. GNA

By Samuel Akapule, GNA

The European Union (EU) in Ghana, on Wednesday expressed its readiness towards supporting efforts at addressing environmental challenges confronting the country.

Mr William Hanna, Ambassador of the EU delegation, who led a team to pay a courtesy call on Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation in Accra, said the EU was particularly interested in assisting Ghana to deal with the issues of climate change.

He said the EU would support the country in the framework of climate change agreement and in meeting her climate mitigation targets.

Among the delegation were Mr Herve Delsol, EU Climate Change Specialist, Mrs Tove Degnbol, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Mr Giovanni Favilli, Ambassador of Italy.

Also on the delegation, were Mr Szabo Andras, Ambassador of Hungary, Mr Pierre-Yves Kerevennal, Deputy Head of Cooperation, Embassy of France, and Mr Bernhard Abels, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Germany.

Mr Hanna explained that the EU was however, happy about the great efforts being made by Ghana to tackle its environmental challenges, especially in dealing with illegal mining, illegal fishing and in handling of e-waste, saying, the EU was already assisting in dealing with most of  the issues in the country.

“We need to work together in all seriousness,” Mr Hanna said.

Mr Pierre-Yves Kerevennal, Deputy Head of Cooperation, Embassy of France, on his part commended Ghana for having ambitious agreement on climate negotiations and her intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs).

He said the EU was ready to guide the country in sourcing global financial funds to manage and implement her INDCs.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng urged the EU to help Ghana in dealing with the menace of illegal mining, which he said needed much resource to right all the wrongs done to the environment over the years.

He said about 10 per cent of Ghana’s land area was affected by the menace of illegal mining, involving eight regions out of the 10 and most of the major rivers being destroyed to the extent of affecting neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire.

“Ghana needs extra assistance in dealing with illegal mining, with about 10 per cent of the land areas affected, we need a lot of money and assistance in reclaiming the land,” he noted.

The Minister said Ghana like other developing countries have a double burden of impact and effects of climate change and therefore the need for EU and other countries to help mitigate such impact.

He said apart from global environmental issues, the country, had its own set of problems with regard to inappropriate use of chemicals in the agricultural industry, and the use of pesticides which were destroying the soil and air as well.

He said apart from that the government was also struggling to deal with the issue of plastics waste and that biodegradable plastics was being introduced gradually while efforts were being made to ban the manufacturing and use of plastic bags.

“We do not intend to ban plastics entirely, we will promote biodegradable plastics,” he said.

source: GNA

Accra, April 11, GNA – The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to strive to make the Birim River and other polluted water bodies in the country drinkable again.

Reverend Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, the General Secretary of CCG, said the President should, as a matter of urgency, institute immediate measures to curtail illegal mining, also known as galamsey, the main cause of water pollution in the country.

He said galamsey activities had degraded vast portions of the country’s lands and rendered almost all the major water bodies undrinkable due to the deadly chemicals they used such as cyanide and mercury

Rev. Dr Opuni-Frimpong recalled the days when the Birim River was so pure and clean and natives could drink directly from it without treatment.

Other rivers like the Tano, Pra, and Ankobra were also tourist attractions and the pride of the country.

‘Today, however, they have become rivers of dark brown water harbouring dangerous chemicals. Communities along the banks have been deprived of water for farming and domestic use,’ he said.

Rev. Dr. Opuni-Frimpong said illegal mining had also destroyed vast amounts of cocoa lands and robbed farmers of their livelihoods adding that it had threatened as well as derailed the country’s target of increasing production of the cash crop to earn more foreign exchange.

He said even the church risked having to import water for baptism, if the situation continued and, therefore, appealed to President Akufo-Addo to gather the political will to fight the menace and restore the polluted water bodies and degraded lands.

‘This will be one of the legacies you can bequeath to the nation,’ he said.

Rev. Dr Opuni-Frimpong pledged the Council’s commitment to the Media Campaign against Illegal Mining and called on all religious institutions to join the course.

Ghana is currently grappling with the devastating effects of illegal mining on farmlands and in water bodies. The use of carcinogenic poisons such as mercury and cyanide had rendered the waters unusable for communities along the banks that relied on those rivers for fresh water.

The Ghana Water Company had said it was becoming increasingly difficult to treat water from those polluted sources for public consumption.

Some experts have also warned that the rampant pollution could result in Ghana having to import water from neighbouring countries in the near future if the situation was not curtailed.

GNA

By Lydia Asamoah, GNA