Galamsey On Top Of Agenda For Lands Minister Nominee

Lands and Forestry Minister Nominee, John Peter Amewu has said the NPP government will build the capacity of illegal miners to ensure they go through sustainable mining processes.

This he believes will ensure the country’s attainment of renewable mining activities.

Ghana over the years has suffered adversely from the activities of illegal miners.

The informal activities have caused damage to water bodies and farm lands, a situation the new administration wants to curb.

Mr. Amewu who spoke to Citi Business News admitted that he has a lot to do in his ministry and said his government will work to eradicate illegal mining.

“Seasonal mining or the galamsey as we are all aware of, has become a canker within our environment. We believe that the capacities of these youth involved in these activities have to be built for them to conduct their mining activities in a more sustainable way.”

Foreign residents in Ghana particularly Chinese have been identified as one of the key categories of perpetrators of the galamsey menace.

But commenting on the plan of dealing with these categories of persons, Mr. Amewu said his ministry will supervise a halt in all those activities.

“The problem is that the foreigners most often have a front man and so somebody applies for a survey for instance, a prospective license he is given does not necessarily mandate him or her to mine. But the person could immediately go into mining giving credence to the fact that the monetary section in terms of the work flow has not been properly monitored,” he remarked.

As a solution to the situation, John Peter Amewu said, “We need to make sure that a license made for prospecting, development or authorization to develop, must go with development. If we do this, the right people will be put in the right places to do the correct thing.”