A female chief in the Western Region has won public admiration after she turned down a GH¢2 million bribe from illegal miners and ordered the seizure of their heavy-duty equipment in a decisive move to protect her community’s environment.
Nana Quasie Essiem IV, Chief of Whindo in the Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipality near Takoradi, said she refused to compromise the safety and future of her people in exchange for personal gain.
According to her, a resident led a group of Chinese investors to her home and offered her the money and other benefits if she would allow them to mine gold in the area.
“I need money, we all need money, but I will not accept such money and mortgage the future of the community in the name of money,” Nana Essiem said, expressing anger over the ongoing environmental destruction caused by illegal mining.
Nana Essiem ordered the seizure of the illegal miners’ excavator, changfang machines, generators, water pumps, and other accessories, which have since been handed over to the Western Regional Police Command in Sekondi.
