The Ashantehene expressed his commitment to help the government fight illegal mining while he praised the changes brought by the Lands Minister to the mining sector
Hon. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, MP for Lands and Natural Resources made his courtesy visit to His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II on Friday February 14th 2025.
During his Ministerial visit which included heads of his Ministry’s agencies the Minister declared that Asantehene Otumfuo II’s blessings hold essential value to the government and to him personally.
Hon. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah stated that the government needs Otumfuo’s support because its mission to revamp mining and forest sectors of Ghana requires important advice from him.
Otumfuo needed to approve all programs and projects managed by the ministry during the courtesy meeting.
Through his tribute the Minister praised the Asantehene for his excellent leadership abilities while asking for mentoring from the visionary to guide his efforts towards modernizing land projects.
During their discussion about illegal mining Hon. Armah-Kofi Buah praised Otumfuo’s past initiatives and requested his backing to help the government develop a new approach which will lead to a total transformation of the situation.
He condemned the extreme damage caused by illegal mining to the nation because forty-four of the Two Hundred and Eighty-Eight forest reserves have suffered destruction while major water pollution levels increased from 5,000 NTU to 12000.
The situation requires urgent attention according to Hon. Armah-Kofi Buah who detailed immediate radical government initiatives to fight against the problem.
The government has launched eight new measures through an 18-expert committee to inspect licensing rules along with mining category transformations and Community Mining Scheme reconstruction and other reforms.
The team truly appreciates Otumfour’s assistance for the reset agenda during which we began working. Our approach to important tasks began when we established a 18-member working committee as part of our strategic planning. He explained that his team will both reorder mining classes and establish medium-level mining operations.
The Minister received approval from Otumfuo Osei Tutu II during his visit when the king agreed the Minister had the capability to fulfill his duties in Lands and Natural Resources and encouraged agency heads along with other officials to support his plans.
The king warned Hon. Armah-Kofi Buah to pursue the genuine solution for illegal mining by fighting youth unemployment. According to him exposing youth in mining areas to sustainable life opportunities would prevent them from engaging in water body and forest reserve mining activities.
He urged the government to capture major endemic galamsey perpetrators because targeting adolescent miners lacks sustainable impact. Therefore, the ministry should establish job intervention schemes for youth job security.
Public Lands Minister received two directives from Otumfuo regarding stoppage of unauthorized land sales to public officials during his term of office.
Otumfuo commended the Lands Minister’s forceful tree planting strategy and extended his backing to the project after finding the Tree for Life project praiseworthy.
Dr. Frank Amoakohene expressed his gratitude to Otumfuo for his guidance while assuring to collaborate with other ministers to combat the illegal mining issue (galamsey).
Before the visit Hon. Armah-Kofi Buah accompanied Hon. Muntaka Mohammed–Mubarak, Hon. Dr. Edward Omane-Boamah and Hon. Defence Minister as they checked on the Afari Military Hospital development that began in 2014 under the Mahama administration but lost progress under President Akufo-Addo.
