Former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Samuel Abu Jinapor has told the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration to fulfil its promise to declare a state of emergency in the districts affected by illegal small-scale mining (Galamsey).
He stressed the need for the government to honour its manifesto promise made while in opposition.
“The opposition at the time supported Civil Society’s call and went a step further to commit and promise that when voted into office… they will declare a state of emergency in mining districts of our country,” he said.
The Damongo lawmaker added, “We should hear from them. They should come out and say we will impose a state of emergency at such and such time, or we will not impose a state of emergency because of A, B, C reasons. But not to say anything and to leave it hanging, I think, is not a proper way of proceeding.”
Recently, the Convener of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey Ken Ashigbey also insisted that a state of emergency should be declared in the areas affected by illegal small-scale mining.
He believed that the state of emergency would provide more impetus to stakeholders charged with the responsibility to nip the practice in the bud.
“We still demand the imposition of a state of emergency in the illegal mining fight. We also need to put in place a system where we can track all active excavators in Ghana,” he said on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, March 22.
Ken Ashigbey further said that efforts should be made to unearth the real owners of the excavators brought into the country for illegal mining.
He suggested that the chassis numbers of the excavators can be used to track the real owners.
“If you take the chassis number, you will be able to trace it to who owns it,” he said.
He added, “We should look for the sources of the funding for the excavators, they should trace the money…we are waiting for the Minister to publish the list of those who imported into the country, then we will know who is bringing it.”
The Executive Director of A Rocha, Daryl Bossu, also said that a lot of the country’s forest reserves are currently under siege by illegal small-scale miners.
READ ALSO: Galamsey: A lot of our forest reserves are currently under siege – Daryl Bosu
He says the number of forests captured by the illegal miners is more than the 44 put out by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.
“A lot of the forests are experiencing illegal mining, eating away the forests. We have more than 44 forest reserves affected by illegal mining,” he said on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, March 22.
He further noted that the present government inherited the situation. “And I sympathise with them because it gives them a lot of work to do,” he said.
