Sammi Awuku has advised the troops deployed to the mining areas not to abuse their power.
Two hundred (200) officers of the Ghana Armed Forces have been sent with specific order to remove all persons engaging in illegal mining.
A statement issued by Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah read; In furtherance of the resolutions of the final communique, of the Stakeholder Dialogue on Small Scale Mining on April 14 -15, 2021 and to ensure that mining within water bodies is immediately stopped; the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has authorized the Ghana Armed Forces, to commence an operation, to remove all persons and logistics involved in mining from Ghana’s water bodies.
Govt not thinking outside the box in galamsey fight Xavier Sosu LISTEN
3 HOURS AGO
The fight against galamsey is assuming a wrong turn due to Government s own past failures in the fight. As a people, we must be worried because the havoc caused by galamsey activities is life-threatening and has the potential to endanger the collective future that we all envisage. The activities of galamseyers are gradually leading to very serious irredeemable environmental situations which include loss of biodiversity, clean water and pollution of our soil.
It is obvious that the institutional framework for the implementation of small-scale mining laws has completely broken down with corruption taking center stage. The failure of the Akufo Addo led government to deal with the situation within the last four years shows its weakness and incompetence in dealing with the issue of galamsey.
A Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress(NDC), Peter Boamah Otukonor, has asked the government to be more serious with the fight against galamsey activities
He wants the government to put in place pragmatic measures having decided to take up the galamsey fight once again.
Speaking on
Okay FM s Ade Akye Abia program, he advised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to consult the NDC if they lack ideas and proposals to fight the galamsey menace.
When the NPP government wanted to retain power, they promised to fight galamsey and even went ahead to set a task force which has failed woefully in tackling this illegal mining menace.
Kwesi Pratt has charged the security agencies in the country to assist the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, to curb galamsey activities in the country.
The Minister, during a two-day National Consultative Dialogue on Small Scale Mining, cautioned against illegal mining stressing sanctions and penalties imposed by the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act 995) should be applied to all those who infringed the law, irrespective of political colour, socio-economic status or class. In a communiqué, Abu Jinapor charged all political parties, stakeholder groups and individuals to join
“the development and execution of this national, not parochial, agenda to rid ourselves of the long-standing issue of illegal small-scale mining and the need to implement measures to eradicate it from our society”.