Benito Owusu-Bio, the Deputy Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources, has indicated that the government will release a number of speedboats to patrol and protect Ghana’s major rivers.
The deputy minister explained that it was a joint decision with the ministry’s leadership to launch a project to acquire “shallow used” speedboats to monitor the river banks of motorable rivers like the Prah and Offin.
“The boats will be present for monitoring and deterrence. The boats have already arrived and will be ready to launch within a week or two. It will be difficult to stop certain illegal activities on our river banks if we do not do this,” he said.
Mr Owusu-Bio believes that illegal mining is the most serious threat to our water bodies and their banks and that this project will help to reduce it to a negligible level.
He went on to assure Ghanaians of the government’s willingness to curtail and deter such actions that endanger our water bodies.
He added, “We cannot stop mining in Ghana. The best thing to do is to regulate their activities and ensure that they are carried out legally. The presence of these patrol speedboats is intended for this purpose. The correct goal is to provide alternatives for them and ensure that they do the right thing.”
The deputy minister concluded his statement by stating that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would not lose votes in galamsey-infected areas and constituencies because this project would benefit them the most.
