Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the Minister in charge of Government Communications has revealed that the Mahama government will repeal Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2462 allowing mining in forest reserves.
It will be recalled John Mahama during his campaign promised to scrap LI 2462 but has now rather sought to amend it which has sparked a strong stance from environmental advocates and civil society organisations, who have voiced disappointment over the Mahama administration’s decision.
At the World Press Freedom Day event organised by the German Embassy and the UK High Commission in Accra, Kwakye Ofosu made this known saying, “There is some legislative action that is currently going on. On March 20, the Minister for Environment laid the L.I. 2462 in Parliament. The intent originally was to amend it and take away the power of the president to grant licenses in forest reserves.
“But the new thinking is that it should be revoked entirely. So, I have words from the AG that he will push for this once parliament resumes.”
“It is the policy of the government of Ghana that galamsey must be seen as a monumental challenge. So, we treat persons engaged in it the same way we will treat terrorists.
“For that reason, for the past months, we have been in office, we have not relented in addressing it,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Sammy Gyamfi the acting Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) had earlier announced that Legislative Instrument (L.I) 2462 permitting mining in forest reserves will be revoked immediately after Parliament resumes.
According to Sammy Gyamfi, there were two schools of thought with one arguing that revoking it could lead to a certain vacuum and another that said L. I 2462 is poisonous. It should go in its entirety.
He asserted that the NDC administration is a listening government so those who made that argument have won.
Speaking on Channel One TV, Sammy Gyamfi stated, “L.I 2462 will be revoked by the NDC/Mahama government immediately Parliament resumes. There were legal issues as to whether or not it should be amended or revoked because there is a school of thought that revoking it could lead to a certain vacuum and that what had to be cured was the discretion or power given to the president to grant mining leases for people to mine in protected forest zones.
“Then there was another school of thought that said, look, let’s revoke the entire law, even if we get a vacuum, we can come up with a new L.I…but the L. I 2462 is poisonous. It should go in its entirety. Those who made that argument have won, we are a listening government,” he said.
