The Enchi District Courtroom has determined to grant bail to 4 suspected unlawful miners and permit them to retrieve their confiscated mining tools, a scenario that has sparked outrage amongst Ghanaians.
In keeping with journalist and anti-illegal mining advocate Erastus Asare Donkor, who shared copies of the courtroom’s ruling, the suspects had been arrested for unlawful mining within the Boin Forest Reserve by the Forestry Commission. Nevertheless, the courtroom not solely granted them bail but in addition directed the fee to launch their two excavators and different tools. The courtroom’s verdict doc learn:
The complainant being the Forestry Providers Division, Enchi District, shall forthwith permit the applicant to evacuate and relocate the 2 (2) Lingong excavator machines and different mining tools from the forest reserve to a spot of his alternative exterior the reserve.
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Armed Nationwide Safety operatives have raided the home of former BoG Governor, Dr Ernest Addison, only a month after an identical operation at former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s residence.
The ruling additional instructed that the relocation should be supervised by the Enchi District Police Commander and accomplished inside three days, with the culprits overlaying all related prices.
The applicant shall bear the complete value and bills related to the evacuation and relocation of the 2 (2) excavators and the opposite tools in subject. The applicant shall full the evacuation and relocation inside three (3) days from the date of this order.
The ruling has triggered huge backlash, with many questioning the dedication of authorities to combating unlawful mining, popularly referred to as galamsey, which continues to wreak havoc on Ghana’s forest reserves and water our bodies.
Expressing his frustration, Asare Donkor slammed the courtroom’s order as a “slap within the face.”
So, the Forestry Fee and the Enchi police arrested 4 individuals who had been mining illegally within the Boin River Forest Reserve on Sunday, twenty third March 2025. They impounded two excavators discovered within the forest. They processed them for courtroom and confiscated the tools. Now the courtroom has granted them bail and given an order directing the Forestry Fee to launch their machines to them.
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He additionally questioned why the provisions within the Forest Safety Act of 1974, which outlines strict penalties for unlawful mining in forest reserves, had been seemingly ignored within the ruling.
The courtroom says the FC ought to permit them to cart their excavators out of the forest to any location of their alternative. And it has subsequently ordered that the police ought to make sure that the suspects are in a position to take action inside three days. Query is, what occurred to provisions within the Forest Safety Act 1974?
The fight against galamsey has been an extended battle that has seen an uproar in the previous couple of months, with involvements from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and labour forces alike following issues of environmental well being.
