Day: November 28, 2023

The Eastern Nzema Traditional Council (ENTC) has tasked a-seven-member committee to act as roving scouts to check galamsey activities that have polluted river bodies in their enclave.

The move formed part of concrete steps taken by the traditional council to abate the galamsey nuisance which had degraded lands and polluted river bodies which flow into the Greater Amanzule River at Azulenloanu and other communities in the Ellembelle District.

The committee is chaired by the Chief of Ambainu, Nana Nyamekeh Fofole, with the Chief of Azulenloanu, Nana Addo Nreda VI, the Chief of Bakanta, Nana Aka Nwoza III, and Chief of Nkroful, Nana Kwasi Kutuah V. as members.

The rest of the members are, the Chief of Teleku-Bokazo, Nana Afful Kwaw II, Divisional Chief of Kikam, Nana Etease II and Chief of Esiama, Nana Ainoo-Kwagyan III.

Among the terms of reference, the committee is tasked to inspect galamsey sites in the various communities with the help of drones and slap injunction on communities found culpable of the m
enace.

As part of the move, the committee is also expected to undertake thorough investigations and nip in the bud, galamsey operations which were having rippling effects on the Greater Amanzule River in recent times.

Speaking to Ghana News Agency at his palace in Ambainu, Nana Nyamekeh Fofole expressed wary that galamsey activities in the area had devastated lands and river bodies making the future bleak for posterity.

Nana Nyamekeh Fofole lamented that the upsurge in galamsey activities had far-reaching consequences such as drinking polluted and poisonous water with cyanide, lead and mercury.

The Chairman explained that since upstream river bodies such as Rivers Subri, Broma, Ebi and Fienza meandered their way through communities such as Ebi, Tandane, Asasetre, Nvenlesolo, Bomoakpole, Anwia, Teleku-Bokazo, Nkroful and Esiama before they finally

entered the Greater Amanzule River at Azulenloanu, Bakanta and Ambainu, the committee would patrol all those areas as part of the operations.

The traditional r
uler said the Council was vehemently opposed to galamsey activities and had made several moves to stop it.

He warned communities which were neck deep in galamsey activities to halt the practice and find viable alternative livelihoods such as rubber plantation, skills training, and other self-employable skills to make a living.

Nana Addo Nreda VI, the Chief of Azulenloanu where the Greater Amanzule River entered the sea, acknowledged that the colour of the river had changed in recent times.

According to him, there was no galamsey activities going on in the Greater Amanzule proper but attributed the pollution of the river to rivers from neighbouring communities such as Ebi, Tandane, Asasetre, Bomoakpole, Anwia, Teleku-Bokazo, Nkroful among others.

Nana Addo Nreda VI lamented that some detractors have tagged him to be involved in galamsey in the Greater Amanzule but denied flatly, adding that he was opposed to galamsey.

He said the Greater Amanzule River had been the source of livelihood for people within t
he catchment area for decades and Nananom would fish out the culprits and bring them to book.

Nana Addo Nreda VI said fighting galamsey had become difficult due to political interferences, adding that the power of traditional rulers had been de-emphasized.

Nana Addo Nreda VI alleged that open galamsey activities were on-going along the Teleku-Bokazo to Anwia main road in broad daylight but that the police had failed to arrest such Galamseyers.

He was happy with the constitution of the committee and stressed that it would help clamp down on all illegal miners in the district.

The Greater Amanzule River is a source of drinking water to many communities, it is also noted for its eco-tourist potential and wetlands conservation as well as a source of livelihood for indigenes and those in the diaspora.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, says Ghanaians are underpaying for passport services compared to other countries in the sub-region.

He said Ghanaian passports were the cheapest in the West African region, costing eight dollars compared to Liberia where it cost 40 dollars to acquire a passport even though the same company supplied passports to the two countries.

Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong, who is in charge of Political and Economic Affairs at the Ministry, giving an update on passport and consular services, emphasised that ‘Ghanaian passports are heavily subsidised.’

He said, ‘Until we get the full complement of equipment, computers, and giant printers, we will continue to have problems. Until we are ready to invest, we will continue to have problems. Until we are ready to pay the realistic fees for passports, we will have problems.’

On the average, some 5,000 passport applications are processed daily.

Out of the number, only a maximum of 3,000 of the
passports are printed, despite a 10-hours daily operation.

As a result, there is a back lock of 2,000 passports daily, 10,000 by close of week and between 40,000 to 50,000 in a month.

As of the close of Friday, 24th November 2023, the Passport Office had printed a backlog of about 310,513 passports dispatched to the various Passport Application Centres for collection.

That, Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong said, was simply because the Ministry did not have the resources to buy printers, and other equipment, ‘creating room for corruption.’

He said, ‘The problem we have, which has contributed to the activities of ‘Goro boys,’ is because we are not on top of what we are supposed to be doing. For example, we are not able to undertake the capturing of biometric data as people would have expected and, we are not able to print the booklets as stipulated in our service arrangement. It all boils down to the issue of resources.’

‘As we speak, we don’t have enough computers to be able to do the capturing. We don’t have enough
printers to print the passport booklets,’ he added.

According to the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, monies expected to be used to purchase computers and printers and other equipment to provide quick service delivery, was used to subsidise passport applications.

‘About 80 per cent of the people who apply for passports don’t really need it at the time they are applying for it.’ Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong noted.

He stated that the Ministry was in consultation with various stakeholders, including Parliament to consider an upward review of passport fees which would cushion it to buy more equipment and to improve the turnaround time for passport acquisition.

Highlighting some initiatives undertaken by the passport Office, Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong said as part of efforts to speed up the printing and delivery of passports to applicants, the Passport Office acquired two Dilleta 900i manual printers this year which had contributed to clearing back logs of passport applications.

He said to reduce overcrowding at the passpo
rt head office, access to the public had been drastically limited as only passport applicants who had genuine reasons to be at the passport headquarters were allowed to access the office.

To further improve security at the passport office, CCTV cameras had been installed in passport offices at the head office to monitor the activities of the officers and to ensure that officers were actively working to achieve set targets.

Mr Paul Cudjo, a Director at the Passport Office, reiterated that despite efforts in reducing the waiting period for new passport applicants and clearing backlog, there would still be some challenges as the passport offices continued to have limited resources to process passports on time.

Source: Ghana News Agency