The chiefs and people of Gomoa Fetteh, Gomoa Mangoase, Gomoa Nyanyano, and the entire Kasoa township in the Central Region risk losing their lives and property if the government does not take action to stop illegal sand mining in the area.
The affected communities are coastal areas. The shorelines and thereby result in tidal wave devastation.
Sand mining is being linked to coastal erosion, habitat destruction, the spread of invasive species, and impacts on fisheries, according to various studies.
As the sand winners excavate massive dugouts, the tidal waves cross the natural sea defences, and occasionally destroy coconut plantations and tomato farms several meters away from the seashore. Physical structures, including houses, also bear the brunt of the devastation.
The illegal sand miners allegedly operate mostly at dawn and at night, at the blind side of residents and law enforcement agencies. They seem to enjoy their nefarious activities without desiring to stop anytime soon.
Things could have been worse for communities like Mangoase, Nyanyano, Gomoa Fetteh and Kasoa by now, but for the timely intervention of some investors who have started reclaiming part of the vandalised sea defence.
However, the WDB Investment’s Executive Director of Operations, Kwesi Panford, noted that some investors are threatening to withdraw from further developing the one thousand and sixty acres of land acquired genuinely from traditional rulers, as they spend much of their investment reclaiming portions of the land destroyed by illegal sand mining activity.
Mr. Panford appealed to authorities, specifically the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Minerals Commission, to combat the sand-winning activities within the shortest time possible to prevent the sea from eroding the affected coastal stretch.
Kwesi Panford disclosed that he and his team were unsuccessful in curbing the sand-winning activities because the perpetrators resisted their efforts, claiming the illegal activity as their source of employment.
He suggested that the only way to stop the illegal sand-winning is for the government to create alternative job opportunities for the youth in the area.
He also urged the chiefs and opinion leaders, custodians of the lands, to assist in the fight against illegal sand-winning to protect investment interests, lives, and property.
The District Chief Executive for Gomoa East, Margaret Nanaa Ackom, expressed regret about the level of devastation to the sea defence by the illegal sand winners. She vowed to use all available security means to stop sand winning in the area.
Madam Comfort Ackom used the occasion to plead with traditional rulers who abet such criminal activities to desist from it before the law gets hold of them.
She further pledged to team up with the Regional Security Council ( REGSEC) and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to curb the menace.
The DCE also pleaded with all in the area to see security as a shared responsibility and assist the District Security Council in arresting those involved in the illegal mining activities.
The Central Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Kwesi Dawood, considered the happenings at the beach as a national disaster. He invited all stakeholders to join hands with the Gomoa East District Assembly and the NADMO Patrol team to curb possible menace.
He thanked the media for participating in the campaign to halt the ‘avoidable man-made disaster’ at Fetteh Beach. He, however, pleaded with residents to form a Community Disaster Management Team to help arrest those who are behind the illegal sand mining at the beach.
Source: newsghana.com.gh
