Decommissioning of excavators will not stop – Lands minister reaffirms govt’s fight against galamsey
Galamsey fight continues
Government dealing with galamsey more swiftly
Samuel Abu Jinapor expresses commitment to galamsey fight
Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to completely clamp down on illegal small-scale mining in the country.
He explained that the fight to ensure that the illegal activities of galamsey are brought to its barest minimum remains intact and that the government is restrategizing to achieve this feat.
The minister, speaking on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, edition of Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV and monitored by GhanaWeb, explained that he concedes that the fight is not easy, especially with how much of a cabal the industry thrives on.
“It is very important that I point out that across the world, wherever you have an extractive industry, it is replete with cartels, syndicates, criminals, trying to take advantage of the natural industry illegally, whether it is in the petrochemical industry, the gold industry… So, I want to say that we need to appreciate and concede that the gold industry and the illegal small-scale industry thrives on money. This is the crux of the matter,” he said.
The minister also spoke about the challenges they have been facing in trying to bring this menace under control but assured that all that must be done to ensure that the situation is controlled is done.
He assures also that one of the ways of ensuring this becomes a reality is to continue to decommission excavators and they will stop at nothing to get that to materialize.
“We’ve been trying to deal with it but I want to be realistic and let the country understand what we seek to deal with… there’s one important outcome of our outcomes which for me is very encouraging. We no longer have the culture of impunity which used to exist in the small-scale industry where people could mine recklessly, indiscriminately without the fear of any consequences
“There are pockets of mining going on that should be problematic. I’m told, for instance, that on River Ankobra and River Offin, there is heightened activity going on. How we are going to deal with it, I will not disclose it here because that will be improper but that we will deal with it, we will do so and we’ll do so swiftly and ruthlessly.
“And let me conclude on that matter by reiterating a commitment the president has made which I have to execute, which I have also been very committed to and that what I really believe will take us to a reasonably satisfactorily situation. The commitment is total and unflinching and there’ll be no occasion where we’ll take out eyes off the ball and for those who are listening, they should know that we are going to move and move more swiftly than we did before and the policy of decommissioning of excavators will not cease. We’ll go ahead and if we find excavators on river bodies, we’ll decommission them. Some people call it to burn it; we’ll do it,” he said.
Ghana’s water bodies have, in the last few years, been hardly hit by the activities of illegal mining, giving rise to concerns across board.
Government dealing with galamsey more swiftly
Samuel Abu Jinapor expresses commitment to galamsey fight
Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to completely clamp down on illegal small-scale mining in the country.
He explained that the fight to ensure that the illegal activities of galamsey are brought to its barest minimum remains intact and that the government is restrategizing to achieve this feat.
The minister, speaking on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, edition of Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV and monitored by GhanaWeb, explained that he concedes that the fight is not easy, especially with how much of a cabal the industry thrives on.
“It is very important that I point out that across the world, wherever you have an extractive industry, it is replete with cartels, syndicates, criminals, trying to take advantage of the natural industry illegally, whether it is in the petrochemical industry, the gold industry… So, I want to say that we need to appreciate and concede that the gold industry and the illegal small-scale industry thrives on money. This is the crux of the matter,” he said.
The minister also spoke about the challenges they have been facing in trying to bring this menace under control but assured that all that must be done to ensure that the situation is controlled is done.
He assures also that one of the ways of ensuring this becomes a reality is to continue to decommission excavators and they will stop at nothing to get that to materialize.
“We’ve been trying to deal with it but I want to be realistic and let the country understand what we seek to deal with… there’s one important outcome of our outcomes which for me is very encouraging. We no longer have the culture of impunity which used to exist in the small-scale industry where people could mine recklessly, indiscriminately without the fear of any consequences
“There are pockets of mining going on that should be problematic. I’m told, for instance, that on River Ankobra and River Offin, there is heightened activity going on. How we are going to deal with it, I will not disclose it here because that will be improper but that we will deal with it, we will do so and we’ll do so swiftly and ruthlessly.
“And let me conclude on that matter by reiterating a commitment the president has made which I have to execute, which I have also been very committed to and that what I really believe will take us to a reasonably satisfactorily situation. The commitment is total and unflinching and there’ll be no occasion where we’ll take out eyes off the ball and for those who are listening, they should know that we are going to move and move more swiftly than we did before and the policy of decommissioning of excavators will not cease. We’ll go ahead and if we find excavators on river bodies, we’ll decommission them. Some people call it to burn it; we’ll do it,” he said.
Ghana’s water bodies have, in the last few years, been hardly hit by the activities of illegal mining, giving rise to concerns across board.
Source: ghanaweb.com
Source:
GhanaWeb
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