The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Bongo, Upper East Region, Hon Rita Atanga has lauded government for establishing a Community Mining Scheme (CMS) in the District.
She said the CMS would serve as livelihood empowerment for the youth in the area, as the District was considered to be one of the poorest Districts in the Region, and encouraged the youth to take advantage of the opportunity and mine responsibly.
Hon. Atanga who was speaking at a ceremony to commission the CMS by Hon Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources at Bongo-Soe, a community in the District, added that the CMS would be source of revenue generation to the Assembly to undertake some basic projects including provision of boreholes in the District.
“Thank you Minister for giving our people the license to mine responsibly. This is an opportunity for the youth in Bongo to also make a living. As our Paramount Chief mentioned, we all can’t do the white colour jobs, so this is a way we can also earn a living,” she said.
Hon Atanga noted that Bongo was a neighbouring District to Burkina Faso, and stressed the need for all stakeholders and residents to continue to live in peace, be extra vigilant and look out for any possible jihadist influx into the District.
The DCE, who is the Chair of the District Security Council (DISEC), said “It should be recognised that Bongo District by virtue of it bordering Burkina Faso, is prone to evasion by extremists operating in the neighbouring country.
“Let us continue to use dialogue as the surest way to settle our differences to avoid outside forces from taking advantage of any possible disunity to interfere in the peace that we are enjoying,” Hon. Atanga advised.
The DISEC Chair said the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) in collaboration with the DISEC, had initiated measures to continue to monitor the borders and communities to ensure residents were safe as they went about their daily activities.
“Let’s also endeavour to report any suspicious character that enter the communities under the pretext of doing business,” she said.
In an interview with Wordnews, the supervisor of the CMS, Mr John Ayuah said the site was on a land size of about 25 acres with about 42 youth in a pit.
He said additional two pits would soon be created, and expressed worry about the lack of electricity and the high cost of diesel to power their generators.
The supervisor , therefore appealed to government to support extend electricity to the site to enable them reduce the burden on their operations.
Source: mywordfmonline.com/Gaspard Ayuureneeya .