Businessman and Convener of One Ghana Movement Senyo Hosi has blamed the illegal small-scale mining (Galamsey) at the doorstep of the government.
He says if the government really wants to stop galamsey, it will be able to do so but there is no will to end it. "This is a failure on the part of the government," he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, October 12.
He added that "If the government wants this to stop it will stop." For his part, South Dayi Member of Parliament Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor told the Minerals Commission to act against the degradation of the environment by illegal mining.
The member of the Assurances Committee of Parliament stated that as the body mandated by law to act, it is their duty to collaborate with the Police and the army to ensure that the illegal miners are flushed out from the water bodies and the forests. "It is your duty to ensure that operations of the people you haven't licensed are stopped, "he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, October 12. "It is your duty as mandated by the law to ensure the environment is not degraded, It appears that under existing legislation, the Minerals Commission and the EPA they are refusing to invoke their powers under the Law." He further suggested that the Minerals Commission and the EPA should own helicopters to enable them to go round the galamsey areas as part of the fight against the menace. "I am one who believes that the EPA, Minerals should own helicopters by now so that they move around," he said.