The Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo has debunked assertions that the courts are solely responsible for the delays in the prosecution of accused persons in illegal mining cases.
In an address on Wednesday, October 2, at the annual conference of Judges and Magistrates in Accra, the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame while laying the blame at the doors of the courts, appealed to the Chief Justice to direct judges to complete galamsey cases a month after the resumption of the legal break.
Yeboah-Dame posited that delays by the courts had resulted in a major setback in the fight against the galamsey menace. "It is beyond argument that the form of illegal mining known as "galamsey" continues to wreak incalculable damage to our forest reserves and river bodies.
A major setback to the struggle against galamsey is the rate of adjudication and punishment of offenders.