Minister For Lands & Natural Resources: Probe Hagnela Mining Company's Illegal Activities

Author's note: This piece was written on 12/4/2013. It is being posted today because I was unable to do so on the day. Please read on:

Being accustomed to turning disasters into new opportunities, instead of viewing it as a catastrophe, we decided to seize the opportunity to help halt the impunity of the wealthy syndicates behind most of the illegal gold mining and unlawful logging in Akyem Abuakwa , when our  cousins, who own land adjacent to ours at Akyem Juaso,  informed us recently that tenant farmers on their land  had been approached by Hagnela Mining Company Limited,  to mine gold there.

The subsequent communication between our cousins  and Hagnela  Mining Company makes interesting reading - and illustrates perfectly  the mendacity,  utter ruthlessness and unfathomable greed that underpins  the illegal operations of the   wealthy criminal syndicates destroying one of the most important ecosystem services providing areas in Ghana's Eastern Region's forest belt.

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, the Hon. Alhaji Inusah Fuseini,  ought to order the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  to carry out an immediate investigation into  the destructive activities of Hagnela  Mining Company  - which falsely claims to have the requisite permits from the EPA and the Minerals Commission in a letter signed by its CEO  - in the area bordering one of the  banks of the Akooso stream,  adjacent to  the P. E. Thompson Estate's  property at Akyem Juaso.

(Luckily for our nation, there is  documentary evidence of those bogus claims of possessing official permits,  made by  Hagnela Mining Company, which  it  cannot possibly deny and disown.)

The question is:  As a society, must we  continue to allow a few wealthy individuals driven purely by  greed,  to end up destroying what is a designated Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA), which  contains the  watershed for three major river systems (the Densu, the Ayensu and the Birim),   on which a large part of southern urban Ghana (with a population of several millions - including those of  Accra) depends for its drinking-water supply?

Furthermore, as a people, should we allow ourselves to be saddled with   an apocalyptic future nightmare,   purely  for the private financial benefit,  of a few selfish and thoroughly dishonest individuals -  and at the expense of the well-being  of millions;   ensuring a sustainable future for the area at a time of global climate change;  and guaranteeing a sustainable  existence for  future generations,  in an era of global warming? Most certainly not.

We are actually referring to what   is a rare and unique upland evergreen  rainforest full of yet-to-be-discovered medicinal plants;  which  also possesses a wondrous natural beauty that could  sustain a world-class eco-tourism destination business;  and is an important living laboratory for natural sciences researchers from around the globe  - all critical green economic  factors potentially making it  a trillion-cedi sustainable natural asset.

Why should we allow  it to be destroyed by philistines who know the price of gold on a daily basis - but who do not  have the faintest idea of the true value of this priceless gift of nature's  that Providence blessed Akyem Abuakwa and Mother Ghana with?

Perhaps the Hon. Inusah Fuseini ought to go to Akyem Juaso himself,   together with the heads of the Minerals Commission and the EPA - to see for himself the unpardonable and unspeakable  crimes against humanity being committed there  daily by wealthy criminals,  operating without legal regulatory permits:  and busy destroying part of a unique and valuable  upland evergreen rainforest with complete  impunity.

To understand the true  significance and import of what is happening -  in ecological terms -  it is crucial that the minister is made aware of the fact  that  included in the  total freehold landholding of some 14 square miles of upland evergreen rainforest owned by the P. E. Thompson Estate since 1921,   is an  "admitted farm" on which stands a  virgin forest totalling some 99.6 acres,  which is inside the official government Atewa Forest Reserve.

With respect,  this is no degraded  forest now become denuded scrubland that can conveniently be sacrificed in order  to increase the personal net worth of short-sighted and callous individuals - who can see no further than the end of their  noses.

The Hon. Minister for Lands  and Natural Resources must act swiftly before it becomes  too late  to save this important upland evergreen rainforest - and vital ecosystem services provider that is also a GSBA - from being irreparably damaged  by greedy and selfish individuals:  who do not care one jot about the effect of their actions on their fellow humans  and above all on Mother Nature.

Let him instruct the EPA and the Minerals Commission to order an immediate halt to any further mining by the company -  and begin a   multi-agency probe into the illegal  activities of Hagnela Mining Company and all its "co-operator" business partners  at Akyem Juaso now.