The Omanhen of Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Area, Obrifo Ahunako Ahor Ankobea II, has appealed to the Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA) and the Gomoa East and West district assemblies to ban sand winning in Gomoa.
Addressing a meeting of chiefs at Gomoa Assin, the Omanhen lamented the rate at which their lands were being made barren by sand winners who never bother to reclaim them.
He pointed out that if immediate steps were not taken to prevent people from the practice, famine would soon be staring at the faces of the people in the area.
Obrifo Ahor Ankobea said their farming activities would not yield anything because their land had become a desert.
Already, the Paramount Chief said, the erratic weather pattern has had its toll on farming and if the indiscriminate sand winning would be allowed to continue, the people would die of hunger and abject poverty.
He said about 20 years ago, the land was fertile for cash crops like cocoa but because of poor rainfall, only food crops such as cassava and
maize could do well in the area.
The Omanhen said if activities of sand winners would deprive the land of its fertility then the people would be heading for a serious problem.
He said the worst affected area was Gomoa East and appealed to the Members of Parliament for the area, to initiate legislation to arrest the
situation.
Obrifo Ahor Ankobea said Ghanaians had been condemning the destruction of the land and water bodies by �galamsey� operators forgetting that sand winning could also devastate the land.
�Let us all help to protect the land for the present and the next generations,� the Omanhen added.