Information reaching the New Crusading Guide reveals that a well armed gang of illegal gold miners with sophisticated weapons have blocked the source of the Bui Dam and diverted the course of the Black Volta River for gold mining.
According to sources, the miners who are using sophisticated weapons are made up of Ghanaians, Indians, Nigerians, Chinese, Russians and Americans who are strongly backed by some powerful politicians in the country.
They are said to have identified the depth of the Black Volta as a rich deposit of Gold and thus exploring for wealth.
Speaking to the New Crusading Guide in an exclusive interview, Honorable Francis Manu-Adabor, Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano South, and a member of the committee on mines and lands said the committee recently went on a fact finding tour of the Bui Dam site and as part of their activities decided to travel along the banks of the river but were told by the inhabitants along the lake not to go since they were likely not to return alive. “The inhabitants in the area told us that if we dared go there we would not come back”, he told this Reporter.
“The miners are about 4,000 meters up north of the Dam site and deep along the banks of the river and have diverted the flow of the river for gold mining. So the water is not flowing from the top into the dam area. That is the main cause of the Bui Tragedy. They have also blocked the entire road leading to the area so whoever tries to get to them will be surrounded in another direction and killed. That is what I have witnessed and heard when I went to the area with the parliamentary team. I am therefore appealing to the President to investigate the issue and if possible assign the special military force to the area to stop the operations of the illegal miners to save the Dam from collapsing”, he stated.
On 17th December 201 the Bui Dam was commissioned as Ghana’s second largest hydroelectric generating plant by President John Mahama who also declared that the country was on its way to becoming a major producer of power in West Africa.
The $622 million Bui Hydroelectric Dam project was expected to provide the country with an additional 400 megawatts of electricity but this has not happened due to the current situation which they attribute to insufficient influx of water. The Dam is built on the Black Volta River at the Bui Gorge located at the southern end of Bui National Park.
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