Nkroful Agricultural Secondary School is on the verge of collapse as illegal miners (galamseyers), whose activities are causing serious environmental and social problems, have taken over the district.
This was disclosed by a group calling itself Galamsey Action Group on Beyi W’ano segment of Adom 106.3 FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem, Wednesday.
According to the Vice President of the Group, Michael Ademba, not only is the situation a threat to the environment, but it also exposes the residents to harm.
“Our mission is to fish out those involved in these illegal acts. We have been to some communities and our next stop is the Nkroful Agricultural Secondary School in the Western Region.
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“The activities are posing a threat to the students as their school building is almost collapsing as a result of the galamsey activities behind the school building,” he said.
He said the group went round some communities to assess the situation and it found out from the various areas that large tracts of land, which hitherto had green forests, had been levelled at Teleku-Bokazo, Nkroful and Esiama, where the activities of the illegal miners pose a danger to residents.
At some of the sites, the operators were found to be using excavators to flip the earth open while prospecting for gold in areas which are less than 10 metres from residential facilities.
Mr Ademba said the operators were known persons in the community and are always left off the hook when arrested.
“Anytime these people are arrested, they are left to go back over claims that some top men have ordered their release. This issue has become a big worry to us and so the government must wake up else our water bodies and property would be destroyed,” he lamented.