His Eminence Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson, Chancellor, Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, Vatican, Rome has said urgent steps have to be taken to address the illegal small-scale mining (Galamseny) menace.
He expresses the view that Ghana risks becoming a failed state the the menace is not addressed immediately. "If the status quo remains, Ghana risks becoming a failed state," he told TV3's Kemini Amanor on the Hot Issues on TV3 Sunday October 13.
He added "We need to develop alternative industries to support the youth.
Poverty is a reason a lot of these people go into illegal mining." Earlier this week, 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.