After squandering Ghc300 million of tax payers money in the fight against illegal mining, ‘galamsey’ and failing to achieve any positive results, the government of Ghana now claims it will take a decisive action against the menace.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor stated that with the heightened national discourse on galamsey and calls for an immediate ban on all forms of small-scale mining, the government has decided to take a decisive action against the menace.
He said a crunch national security meeting would be held with all the 16 regional ministers on Wednesday, at which briefing would be given on the illegal mining situation in the country for the best decision to be taken.
“As a government, we have taken note of the divergent views that have been shared on this galamsey matter. We have banned small-scale mining in this country for almost two years before, so this call is not a strange one,” Mr Jinapor, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Damongo, said.
In an interview with state owned Daily Graphic yesterday, the Lands and Natural Resources Minister said: “We will have a review of the process of the two-year ban, looking at the pros and cons, then a decision that will be in the supreme interest of the country will be taken.”
“It is important for all forms of partisanship to be shelved in the search for the best way out of the woods in the fight against galamsey,” Mr Jinapor added.
The Lands and Natural Resources Minister said if the situation where leading members of the ruling party were exhibiting a cold attitude towards the fight against galamsey in an election year, and the opposition political party was promising to grant amnesty to persons imprisoned for their involvement in galamsey persisted, there would be no headway in the fight against the menace.
The concerns surrounding illegal mining, the fight against the menace and it concerns keep growing. Government’s efforts to curb the menace has failed woefully, with Ghana recoding extensive water pollution, land degradation amongst others. Recently, water shortages recorded in some parts of the country was attributed to galamsey activities. Making matters worse, the galasmey fight is said to have failed because of the involvement of some top government officials in the illegality.