DESIST FROM GIVING OUT LAND FOR GALAMSEY — ASSEMBLY (PAGE 20, OCT 30)

THE West Akyem Municipal Assembly has called on the Okyeman Lands Secretariat and the Asamankese Stool Lands Secretariat to desist from giving out land to any individual, groups of people or companies for illegal mining (galamsey).
It said it was only the Lands Commission, the Administrator of Stool Lands and the Mineral, Forestry or the Fisheries Commissions that had been mandated to handle land matters in the country.
Addressing a news conference at Asamankese last Tuesday, Mr Seth Otchere, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), said the release of lands by the Okyeman Lands Secretariat and the Asamankese Stool Lands Secretariat to individuals and companies for "galamsey" purposes, apart from degrading the environment and polluting sources of drinking water, was also depriving the country, especially the municipality of revenue generation.
The MCE said it had been the objective of the assembly to regularise illegal mining operations in the area with a view to controlling land use and also generating more revenue for development.
Mr Otchere said such a noble objective could, however, not be accomplished because of the activities of the illegal miners, who had been given the lands by either the Okyeman Lands Secretariat or the Asamankese Stool Lands Secretariat.
He, therefore, called on the two traditional authorities to desist from such acts to help save the environment and also enable the country to generate revenue from regularised mining operations for development.
"In our attempt to regularise illegal mining, it has come to our notice that most of the illegal activities on the lands in the area, including seizure of lands have been perpetrated by the Okyeman Lands Secretariat and the Asamankese Stool Lands Secretariat, which have been allocating lands to corporate bodies and individuals alike without due recourse to the bodies duly set up by the constitution to handle land matters,” the DCE stated.
Mr Otchere said "As a matter of urgency and in the name of development, we call on the Okyeman Lands Secretariat and the Asamankese Stool Lands Secretariat to take immediate steps to consult with the Administrator of Stool Lands and the Minerals Commission or the Forestry Commission to enable them to play the proper roles in land administration in the West Akyem Municipality".