Illegal miners are using intimidating tactics to acquire lands from farmers for illegal mining, the director in charge of anti-galamsey activities at Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Michael Kwarteng, has said.
Reports are rife that some farmers in mining areas have given up on using their lands for cocoa farming and are rather selling arable land to illegal miners interested in exploiting it for gold, from which they can earn more.
However, appearing on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Thursday (30 November), Kwarteng said COCOBOD has stepped in to address the problem, adding that one culprit has been imprisoned since it launched its drive against illegal small-scale mining.
“There are other factors behind these [sales of land],” Kwarteng said. “Most of the illegal miners go and intimidate these farmers using various means to get the land from them, even when they don’t want to.
“Per our interactions, we saw that most farmers didn’t want to give their farms to them, but when they go, they deceive them that the government has given the entire land for concession and so they have no right to say no.
“Even the price they give them, they don’t give them the chance to negotiate,” Kwarteng added. “These are some of the factors. Some chiefs and opinion leaders were even involved.”
Listen to Michael Kwarteng in the audio clip attached below:
Sensitisation
Kwarteng said COCOBOD has stepped up education on the law that protects cocoa farms from the activities of illegal miners.
“As we speak, we have sent most of the cases to court and just last week we even had our first verdict where the person was sentenced for destroying cocoa trees.
“Now we have started sensitisation of cocoa farmers to know some of these laws and the measures COCOBOD has rolled out to curb this menace … Now cocoa farmers feel secure because initially they thought there was no law backing them,” Kwarteng said.
Reporting by Fred Dzakpata in Accra
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