Atewa Still A ‘No Go Area’ For Bauxite Mining – Concerned Citizens Tell Government

A group calling itself the Concerned Citizens of Atewa Landscape has said that the prospecting of the Atewa forest will certainly compromise the ecological integrity of the forest and will be detrimental and irreversible.

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor has intimated the government will not needlessly compromise the integrity of the Atewa Forest but rather exploit it for the ultimate benefit of the Ghanaian people.

“Government and GIADEC [ Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation ] continue to be fully committed to the preservation of the Atewa Forest and ensure that the exploitation of the bauxite in Atewa is in the ultimate interest of the Ghanaian people and is in the public interest. They are also working to ensure that the integrity of the forest is preserved,” the Minister said in an interview with Aljazeera on Sunday [April 24, 2022].

But the Concerned Citizens in a reaction to this contend the Minister’s claims are repugnant and reprehensible, adding “This posture of the government on Atewa clearly shows that myopically it sees only bauxite and nothing else in Atewa as observed by a concerned environmentalist.”

It further warned: “The Concerned Citizens of the Atewa Landscape (CCAL) has insisted and reasoned with sister environmental to NGOs with clarity of vision and still insist that Atewa is a NO-GO area for bauxite mining.”