Ashanti Regional Chairman for the ruling New Patriotic Party has called on small scale miners and illegal miners affected by the government’s embargo on mining to try maize farming as an alternative means of livelihood.
According to Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, the affected miners must not give up hope of surviving over the ban on mining.
Wontumi, a miner himself says since suffering set backs to his mining business during the administration of former president John Mahama, he has been actively involved in maize farming which has proved to be profitable.
He was speaking to host of Abusua FM’s Sunday morning Church Bells, Ike De-Unpredictable in response to reports that some small scale miners have committed suicide while others are suffering from serious economic hardship since the government of Akufo Addo slapped an embargo on illegal and small scale mining in the country.
According to Wontumi, ‘since president Mahama and his government destroyed my mining business, I have been into maize farming and I’m making a lot of farming…I’m prepared to introduce my fellow miners to the maize farming if only they will accept to do it.’
‘They shouldn’t think that mining is the only lucrative business, farming is another huge potential that people are failing to tap into.’
‘My brothers shouldn’t blame the government of rendering them jobless, if only they want to sustain their economic survival, they should contact me, I will be prepared to help them.’
‘We shouldn’t think that mining is the only big thing in Ghana and even talking about the embargo, I think it’s a good thing that the government is doing so that at least we can reclaim some of the lands we have lost to unacceptable mining practices in the country,’ he added.
