Ghana and Ivory Coast to fight illegal mining at river boundaries

The two governments have a joint technical commissions (JTC) for the reaffirmation and materialisation of land and maritime boundaries since August this year

The national coordinator of the Ghana Boundary Commission, Major General Emmanuel Kotia, has said Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have joined forces to fight illegal mining activities at river boundaries between the two West African countries.

The two governments have a joint technical commissions (JTC) for the reaffirmation and materialisation of land and maritime boundaries since August this year.

Speaking to journalists at a two-day meeting of the commission in Accra, Major Gen Kotia said: “The boundary commissions have realised that we have some river bodies that serve as common boundaries between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

“There has been a lot of illegal mining along those rivers so we want to also facilitate our security agencies from both sides to intervene in stopping this illegal mining that is going on.”

Taskforce at mining sites

At the meeting, the deputy minister for lands and natural resources, Benito Owusu-Bio said that his ministry will set up a taskforce to monitor illegal mining on the country’s water bodies. Owusu-Bio said the government has trained men with the requisite tools to enable them carry out their mandate.

“As we speak now, river guards have been trained, the government has procured speedboats and soon they are going to start operations and monitoring of the river bodies.

“We are making sure we will be able to address the issue of illegal mining, especially on the river bodies,” he said.

For his part, the executive secretary of the Ivory Coast Boundary Commission Diakalidia Konate said they will continue to collaborate with Ghana to sensitise people about the impact of illegal mining.

“One of the major things we will be focusing on is illegal mining,” Konate said. “Our commission and that of Ghana’s will be working together to organise sensitisation programmes for communities along the boundaries for them to be aware that these activities they are engaging in can affect their lives.”