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General News of Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Source: citinewsroom.com
2019-04-24
A galamsey site
Pressure is mounting on the government to dissolve its Interministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, following what has been widely seen as a fight lost against illegal mining, commonly known as "galamsey".
The latest to join the many calls for the collapse of the government agency is the Small Scale Mining Network in Africa (ASMAN).
The safe landmine advocate wants the committee to be replaced by the Multisectoral Integrated Mining Project (MMIP), which is yet to be launched.
Nii Adjetey Mensah, executive director of ASMAN, said that as long as the interministerial committee did not entrust its mandate to the Minerals Commission and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the battle against Galamsey could not not be restarted.
"Everyone is set up for some work. When I look at the interdepartmental committee, there is no work to do for them. The committee was led by the Minister of the Environment. We thought the government wanted to play a clear role. "
"The Minister of Lands should take office and ensure that the Minerals Commission is active and doing the job.We, the miners, say that they are a failure.The interdepartmental committee should be dissolved."
The Coalition of Media Against Illegal Mining has reiterated its calls for the dissolution of the Interministerial Committee on Illegal Mining.
Group coordinator Ken Ashigbey, who spoke at Citi News, said the mandated state agencies should be empowered to clean up the mining sector.
"Galamsey's fight failed, to go beyond soft but hollow rhetoric" – NDC in Akufo-Addo
The opposition, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has also called the government's fight against Galamsey a failure.
According to the party, several actions of people appointed by the government made the fight sterile.
NDC's director of communications, Sammy Gyamfi, attributed this failure to the impossibility for the president to appoint government appointees who allegedly fueled the illegal mining activities.
"The fact that President Akufo Addo's fight against Galamsey has failed is no longer disputed. The spectacular failure of the so-called anti-galamsey struggle underlines what we all know to be the truth: President Akufo-Addo's policies and offers are most often instituted self-aggrandizement and constitute a means for his party members and his government thirsty their pockets by corrupt means. "
He called for an overhaul of the Interministerial Committee on the Mining Industry and the government's approach to the fight.
"In these circumstances, the NDC is asking President Akufo-Addo to review the Interministerial Committee on Illegal Mining and to urgently review its approach to combating illegal mining. It is time for the President to rise above his soft and hollow rhetoric and begin to follow the thread of the conversation. "
"He must show genuine commitment and dedication in the fight against illegal mining.We urge him urgently to eliminate and punish all those responsible corrupt at the base of Charles Owusu Bissue who undermined our collective struggle against illegal mining. "
An interministerial committee on illegal mining has been set up to oversee the implementation of the ban on all forms of small-scale mining and also to check minors.
The secretariat was also struck by allegations of corruption and corruption in Anas Aremeyaw's presentation on illegal mining.
It was commissioned in March 2017 by President Akufo-Addo to reform artisbad and small-scale mining in the country.
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