Mahama to dismiss appointees who indulge in mining activities

President John Dramani Mahama has cautioned all government appointees against involvement in any form of mining activity or face sanctions, including dismissal.

He emphasised that any appointee who is interested in any form of mining business must either resign to avert his wrath.

The President gave the admonition last Friday, at Nkawie, in the Nwabiagya South Municipality at the launch of the Tree for Life Initiative.

The Tree for Life Reforestation Initiative is an intervention by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government aimed at embarking on transformational landscape restoration efforts to heal and harness the environment by turning areas heavily degraded by illegal mining and other drivers of deforestation and forest degradation into ecological functional landscapes.

The initiative aims at promoting sustainable forest management, conservation and reforestation to address the issues of biodiversity loss, pollution of water bodies, climate change and environmental degradation which have an existing threat.

The objective is to raise environmental awareness on the importance of trees and environmental conservation, enhance biodiversity by promoting ecosystem restoration, combat climate change and its adverse impacts, restore polluted water bodies to their Blue natural colour (Blue water initiative) and restore watersheds.

It also seeks to promote sustainable livelihoods through job creation, in agroforestry interventions and ecosystem; fish farming, apiculture and urban greening by integrating tree planting in the cities.

The initiative involves massive education and awareness outreach on the importance of trees and the need to plant and preserve them using community durbars , consultation with chiefs and traditional leaders, radio and television programmes , events for school children, churches and professional bodies as well as production of flyers and posters.

President Mahama said he has instructed the Regulatory and Security Agencies to intensify their operations against illegal mining, as the government has made significant progress following the reclamation of seven out nine no go zones and are on course to reclaim the remaining two.

He mentioned that 55 Excavators, two bulldozers, three Pickups, four raffles and 11 motorbikes have been seized from illegal miners.

He said 71 individuals who were caught engaging in illegal mining within Forest Reserves have been remanded, adding that the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology successfully laid L.I. 2462 before Parliament and when it is matured in 21 days the President and any other president would no longer have the power to authorize mining in forest reserves.

The President disclosed that the government would be reclaiming the degraded lands, a pilot by private groups successfully restored sixteen (16) acres of land and the expectation to extend the programme to Five Hundred (500) acres reclaim lands annually.

He stressed that the Tree for Life Initiative is about sustainability not about calling people out to plant trees but ensuring that the trees grow, strive and provide long term benefits for our communities.

He said the programme would prioritise rehabilitating lands that have been destroyed by illegal mining, work with Traditional leaders, local communities and youth groups to restore those lands into productive green spaces that support agriculture, eco-tourism and sustainable timber production.

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