‘Galamseyers’ who defy ultimatum on excavators will be dealt with’
Illegal miners who fail to move their excavators from mining sites after the expiration of the one-month ultimatum will be dealt with appropriately, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr John Peter Amewu, has warned.
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“We will deploy a combined team of security personnel who will be accompanied by mechanics to visit the galamsey sites to clamp down on the illegal miners and disintegrate the excavators to send a clear signal that we are committed to sanitising the system,” he said.
Mr Amewu made the declaration at a national stakeholders’ forum on galamsey held in Accra yesterday by Joy Fm, to discuss the way forward to ruthlessly deal with the menace that has destroyed the country’s land and water resources.
Discussants at the forum included the Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, the Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission, Dr Tony Aubynn, and the Head of Mining at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr Michael Sandow Ali.
There were representatives from state agencies and civil society organisations (CSOs), including the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Minerals Commission, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and OccupyGhana.
Following the expiration of a three-week ultimatum to illegal miners to leave their sites or be prepared to face the law, the minister gave another one-month ultimatum to them to move their excavators and equipment from the mining sites or risk confiscation and arrests
Action
Mr Amewu said armed military personnel would be stationed at galamsey-prone areas for six months to enforce the law, stressing that “the move is to continue to chase out recalcitrant illegal miners.”
“After the six-month period, the next phase of the Multilateral Integrated Mining Plan (MIMP) will come into full force with the deploying of technology that will involve the use of drones to track all equipment on mining concessions,” he added.
He said the focus of the government’s relentless war against illegal miners should not be misconstrued as a deprivation of livelihoods but rather as a move to bring sanity to the sector for the country to reap the full benefits of the resource.
“Illegalities in mining is not about the licensing regime, as many people are quick to say, because about 99 per cent of the galamsey operators are licensed. It is about the method that is used, because even if you have a licence and still mine close to a river, in a river, or without reclamation, that is illegal,” he pointed out.
Prudence
While lauding the initiative by the government to roll out the MIMP as a long-term measure to deal with the menace, Mr Ashigbey, for his part, observed that it was important for the plan to be made available to key stakeholders in the galamsey fight.
He called for stringent enforcement of the law, coupled with effective monitoring through multi-sectorial collaboration as the best shot at dealing ruthlessly with the situation.
He commended the Chief Justice for setting up 14 specialised courts to handle galamsey cases and asked that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) must also take a cue from this and sanction district commanders under whose jurisdiction galamsey thrived.
“We need concerted effort to continue to name, shame and push to jail politicians, chiefs, pastors who are benefiting from the illegalities. This will ensure that mining becomes beneficial to all Ghanaians,” he said.
He was also of the view that the capacity of local companies ought to be built as a long-term measure to ensure that the returns in the mining sector benefited the local economy.
Licensing regime
For his part, Dr Aubynn said blaming the proliferation of illegal mining on a weak licensing regime by the Minerals Commission was a flawed argument, stressing that rigorous processes were carried out by a host of stakeholders before licences were issued.
“Technically, it is the President who issues mining licences through the sector minister, while the commission does the underground work and other consultative duties.
“Some people acquire the licence to mine on a small scale, but they turn around to give out the land illegally to others. The new mining laws are punitive enough but the problem has to do with enforcement by the right stakeholders,” he said.
Collaboration
Mr Ali of the EPA was of the view that given the devastating nature of illegal mining, there was the need for all regulatory and law enforcement bodies to join forces and tackle it holistically.
He described the use of toxic chemicals such as cyanide and mercury as having the potential to kill on a mass scale.
He called for steps to be taken to track the companies, individuals and agencies that facilitated the importation and use of those chemicals to ensure that mining did not become a threat to human lives.
Other speakers at the forum underscored the need for the strengthening of stakeholder engagements while efforts are made to provide alternative livelihoods for local people who engaged in illegal mining.
They also called for effective collaboration between the stakeholder ministries and government agencies to address the menace.
