Akyem Asuom youth decry environmental destruction from galamsey, demand transparency

The youth of Akyem Asuom, a community in the Kwaebibirem district, have expressed deep concerns over the environmental destruction caused by illegal mining, locally known as 'galamsey.' Dominic Ofori Forson, the incoming Asafoatse of Akyem Asuom, discussed the issue during an interview on the Point of View on Channel One TV.

He revealed that the community initially discovered traces of gold, which quickly escalated into large-scale mining with the introduction of heavy machinery.

Forson stressed the lack of transparency and communication surrounding the mining operations.

As the activities intensified, the community became increasingly aware of the significant threat posed to their water sources and overall environment. "This place wasn't like this… Let's say two years ago when we started with this galamsey.

Probably it's been four years, but we didn't start with what we see now.

We started by using a machine to detect if we had gold in the land.

It was started by the people of the town before we moved on with experience. "There were palm trees here, and our elders told us that some people had come with documents saying that they could mine in our town.

So we met." "The residents of this town are predominantly farmers, so the illiteracy rate is higher in Asuom.

We can't tell if the indigenes of the town saw the papers or not.

We just realized after some time that they had brought excavators and trommels.

That was when we realised that they were mining in the waterbody we drink from," Forson explained.

Forson said the youth therefore took the initiative to stop the mining activities due to its devastating impacts. "We, the youth, stopped them.

When we look behind us, there are pits over there.

We don't know anything about the mining.

You said you have documentation, but we know nothing about it.

So when we saw the pits around and the houses nearby, it was a threat to the community." "So we had to ensure that they stopped the work and see to the arrangements they had with the town because we won't sit here for money to come to the town and finish digging the money for the town to remain the same. "So we decided to let them stop and check their documents…That is why [we stopped them]," he stated.