The Chief of Akyem Essase (Apaapam), Baffour K.S. Sikabede, has urged traditional leaders to resist financial inducements and reject mining activities that threaten rivers, forests and the future of their communities.

He said chiefs, as custodians of stool lands, must protect natural resources for future generations instead of exchanging them for a share of mining royalties.

“To my fellow chiefs, let us set our own house in order first. We must not trade our children’s river for a portion of royalties,” he stated.

Baffour Sikabede made the call as guest of honour at the Fourth Annual Colloquium organised by the Department of Political Science Education at the University of Education, Winneba, on Wednesday, September 2, 2026.

The event was held under the theme, “Politics, the Environment, and Our Future: Ghana at Crossroads?”

According to him, traditional authorities are not merely ceremonial leaders but some of the oldest regulators and guardians of Ghana’s environment.

He explained that, before the enactment of modern environmental laws, traditional communities protected rivers, forests and other natural resources through taboos and culturally enforced restrictions.

“Certain rivers were treated as living things, old and respected, not as property to be exhausted. We did not call it integral ecology; we called it taboo,” he said.

Baffour Sikabede maintained that the traditional system succeeded because it combined spiritual authority with environmental discipline in a manner that legislation alone could not achieve.

He, therefore, called on the government and its agencies to consult and adequately resource traditional authorities before granting mining concessions on stool lands, rather than engaging them after environmental destruction had occurred.

He also questioned whether Ghana would recognise chiefs as partners in environmental law enforcement or leave them to watch while lands held in trust for their people were signed away.

The chief further pledged to prevent illegal mining from gaining a foothold within his traditional area.

“No illegal mining operation will find its comfort on the lands of Akyem Essase while I hold this stool,” he declared.

He said environmental protection must be regarded as a collective responsibility, stressing that damage to land, rivers and forests ultimately harms the communities that depend on them.

Watch the event below.