Accra, Dec. 19, - Authorities in
Ghana are in talks with their Ivorian counterparts over measures to sanitise
the two major water bodies, the Tano and Bia Rivers, which have been polluted
by the activities of Ghanaian illegal miners.
“The Ministries involved –
Environment and Mines of both sides have met on three occasions; once in
Abidjan and then twice in Ghana.
“We have drafted an MOU and have
outlined all the steps that we are going to take to sanitise the water bodies,”
Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science,
Technology and Innovation, announced in Accra.
He was answering a question posed
by the GNA about what Ghana was doing to address the water pollution fracas
that had popped up between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
The Minister gave the response at
a meeting in Accra, involving a delegation of the United Nations Industrial
Development Organisation (UNIDO), and other stakeholders to discuss how to
reduce mercury usage in artisanal mining.
The meeting, also attended by
members of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM),
representatives of Small-Scale miners
and other stakeholders, also briefed participants on a UNIDO collaborative
project aimed at supporting Ghana to gradually eliminate mercury usage in the
country.
The Tano takes its source from
the forest in Pooyemin, near Techiman, and flows 400 kilometres from Techiman
to Ehy Lagoon, Tendo Lagoon and finally Aby Lagoon in Ivory Coast, from where
it enters the Atlantic Ocean.
The Tano River System has a total
catchment area of about 15,000 Km2 shared between Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire.
About 93% of the drainage area is within Ghana, whilst the remaining 7% is in
the Cote D’Ivoire.
The Bia also flows through Ivory
Coast and empties into the Aby Lagoon.
Giving more information on the
issue, Prof Frimpong-Boateng explained that the Ivorians got their water supply
from the Bia and Tano rivers and that the polluted Tano was also polluting the
Abidjan lagoon, which had become a big problem for the people.
“So we have taken steps that
include the deployment of 400 security personnel to deal with this water
pollution. And the good thing is that the artisanal miners themselves have also
formed a taskforce and they are very helpful because those doing the right
things don’t pollute the waters,” he explained.
“This is because they have the
impression that the polluters of the waters have brought this calamity of the
ban on mining on them. So they are helping us in addressing the issues.
“As we go on the situation will
improve. It will take some time but the Ivorians know that we, in Ghana, are
doing something about it.”
He also sounded a caution to
those illegal miners who were still engaging in the illegal mining activities
in the Atewa range and other mining centres, despite the ban, that they would
be dealt with soon.
He said the Ivorian authorities
started complaining about the pollution of their water bodies by the activities
of galamsey operations in Ghana which had polluted two of major rivers in their
country long time ago.
“And so I believe that things are
going to be better, we’ve had a big problem on our hands with the artisanal
gold mining, and illegal mining and we want to take advantage of this
unfortunate situation to create something that is better for our nation and
especially for the miners,” Prof Frimpong-Boateng stated.
The Technical Experts
Sub-committee set up by Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to come up with measures to
tackle the pollution of the Tano-Bia River Basin and its impact on Côte
d’Ivoire in June this year presented its first report to a ministerial ad hoc
committee in Accra.
The report, among others,
recommended that both countries had to adopt a programme of activities to deal
with illegal mining in the Tano-Bia basins shared by both countries, with clear
timelines.
In March 2017 an Ivorian
newspaper article, titled ‘The 'Gold Rush' polluting Cote d’Ivoire’s drinking
water,’ reported how galamsey in Ghana was impacting on water supply in that
country.
The report described the Bia
River as a vital source of water for the residents of Bianouan in eastern Cote
d’Ivoire.
“They drink the river water, and
they bathe, fish and wash their clothes in it. But all that changed about a
month ago, when the river turned a murky brown. Our observers suspect that
illegal gold mining is behind the contamination,”
It said the people in Bianouan
could no longer use the river for drinking or washing, because it is so polluted,
and fishing had come to a standstill.
GNA
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