The Co-Chair of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), Dr Steve Manteaw, has urged the government to allow or give the security agencies free space to fight illegal mining, popularly known as "galamsey".He said if the President gave his word and called on the security services to intervene without any interference, an effective work could be done."If President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo issues a disclaimer of not involving himself in the work of the security agencies and allowing them the free space to operate, we will win the fight against galamsey."If someone is arrested and no political actor calls the police or military to plead, then I believe we will make substantial progress in the fight against galamsey," he said.Dr Manteaw was speaking at the Bono Regional stakeholder engagement on the dissemination of GHEITI 2021/2022 mining, oil and gas sector reports and the Maiden 2020 Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) report in Sunyani last Wednesday.Engagement Organised by the Ministry of Finance and GHEITI Secretariat, the engagement was aimed at providing the stakeholders with a comprehensive overview of the latest findings, recommendations and progress within the sectors.It offered them the platform to discuss the findings, provide feedback and explore ways to address the findings and recommendations presented in the reports.Pretence, action Dr Manteaw said the country was only pretending to be fighting galamsey, explaining that the people who had the power and authority to halt galamsey were involved in the act.
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