NPP member, Nana Fredua Agyeman Ofori-Atta says he has no compassion for any person involved in galamsey in the country, hence supporting the punitive measures against such persons.
There is an ongoing war against galamsey or illegal gold mining as the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor and Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul have both sanctioned a Military jont task force of the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Navy and Ghana Air Forces to remove people and machinery at mining areas, particularly on river bodies such as River Pra by using every legitimate force possible.
Currently, over 200 Chanfang machines and a sizeable number of excavators have been destroyed by the task force in attempts to stop the illegal miners.
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The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources will soon table proposals before Cabinet to reform the country s mining industry.
Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, the sector Minister, who said this at a media briefing in Accra on Wednesday, said the reforms would focus on amending the laws regarding the licensing, issuance of permits, sanctioning and enforcement regimes in the mining sector. In a matter of weeks, we will go before the Cabinet with a set of proposals for amendment and reforms in the mining industry to make the laws more punitive, with the ultimate objective of sanitizing the sector .
Mr Jinapor said it had already begun engagement with industry players to enable them to make inputs towards the reforms, adding that, government s goal was to ensure transparency and integrity in the sector.
We’ve packed out of our concessions to avoid harassment – says Small scale miners LISTEN
3 HOURS AGO
The Concerned Small Scale Miners Association says its members have packed out of their concessions to avoid being harassed by military personnel under the government’s ‘Operation Halt’ exercise.
The Association has raised concerns about government’s approach in the fight against illegal mining, claiming that the destruction of mining equipment has affected some of its members who are duly licensed to operate.
The National President of the Association, Kwadwo Peprah, indicated in a Citi News interview that ‘Operation Halt’ may affect innocent legal miners, for which reason they have decided to pack out temporarily.
The Minister for Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, has indicated that the operations being carried out by the Ghana Armed Forces under the directive of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to ensure that water bodies are clean for human consumption are not coming to an end soon.
According to the Bimbilla Member of Parliament(MP), the war waged against galamsey [illegal mining] to clean water for Ghanaians should be a matter of concern for all Ghanaians as it is through collective efforts that will ensure success in the fight.
Briefing the media at the Ministry of Information on the third phase of the ‘Operation Halt’ campaign, Hon Nitiwul noted that the same massive Public Relations(PR) work which was carried out by some Ghanaians for the government to pull out Operation Vanguard in the first attempted fight with all sorts of unfounded allegations are still going on.