A Security Expert Colonel Festus Aboagye (Retired) has raised issues against the sustainability of the deployment of the military to tackle the illegal small-scale mining (Galamsey) menace.
Explaining the reason for his concerns about sustainability, Col Festus Aboagye referred to the previous situation where the Military was deployed in 2018 and 2019 to the galamsey areas only to leave in the short time for the illicit mining practices to resurge, His comment comes at a time when the soldiers who have been deployed under the government's "Operation Halt" initiative to fight against illegal small-scale mining destroyed 18 chanfans, 10 industrial water pumping machines, and one excavator in various illegal mining sites across Ghana.
The destruction formed part of the government's measures to tackle the illicit small-scale mining menace.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had directed the Minister for Defence to deploy additional military forces to intensify the ongoing operation halt which aims to curb illegal mining activities.