Mahama promises to stop mining in forest reserves when he regains presidency

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama, has promised to ban mining in forest reserves if he regain the presidency.

 According to him, the destruction of the forest reserve for gold should not be encouraged.

Speaking to the Central Region chiefs and elders, on July 30, Mr Mahama emphasized the need of protecting Ghana's forests.

He promised that his government would not allow the extraction of gold in forest reserves at the price of conservation.

“We are going to stop all mining in forest reserves. Some of those trees existed when our ancestors were here. Some of those trees are 700 years old in those forest reserves. And our ancestors didn’t cut them. Our ancestors left them for us" he said.

“We are going to cut them and what are we going to leave for our children? Savannah, desertification, destroyed environment. And so we must preserve the forest. Yes, it is attractive to get as much gold as we can but that is like cutting your nose to spite your face" he added. 

Source : Lead News Online