Most illegal miners are sponsored by politicians – CREMA

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“Most of the party executives and government officials are the backbone of illegal mining in the Eastern region and get away with this, these officials are supposed to help fight illegal mining, but they are rather involved,” Mr. George Ababio, a member of the Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) explained in an interview on Radio 1’s Our Land, Our Future program.

According to Mr. Ababio, on their daily monitoring of mining sites, they ask for the leader or owner, and they then request their license to know if it is legal and to check if the mining activity is affecting the land, water, or even the community.

“But most of them are supported by executive members of the ruling party, and if they are arrested they pay bribes and are released, to him, these officials are supposed to help them fight galamsey but they are involved so if you report to no avail,” Ababio said

“Whenever we get hold of illegal miners we report them to our leaders, but most of them are headed by party executives and if sent to the authority they pay, then these cases are dissolved. These officials are supposed to help fight galamsey but they are the mastermind behind it, how can we fight illegal mining if our leaders are involved,” he said

He also advised everyone to alert them if they see illegal mining going on and also the chiefs to reduce giving out the lands for such activities because it’s causing more harm than good.

We should all come together and fight galamsey … each and everyone is a member of this organization so should report any illegal mining. And the chiefs should reduce giving out the lands to these people because it harms society“, he stated.

The Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) concept was developed by the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission of Ghana to promote collaborative and participatory wildlife management in the country.

The concept principally involves a group of communities agreeing on the management regime of a common area. This works as a community based organization with an executive structure, a constitution and relevant bye-laws that guide and regulate natural resource governance and management activities in the respective constituent communities.

Usually the CREMAs link a number of Protected Areas and Forest Reserves and create an ecological corridor for both fora and fauna. Also the CREMA mechanism creates incentives for farmers by allowing them to benefit from the use of natural resources which in turn encourages them to manage these resources sustainably.

Communities and land owners obtain much more rights to access and control the sustainable use of their natural resources which otherwise is the prerogative of government. Other benefits of CREMAs include improved livelihoods and human wellbeing. It also ensures that habitats are secured, and endangered species are protected. It further strengthens accountability and democratization at the community level, and promotes diversification of income generation which strengthens local economies.

Source: Radiooneghana.com/ Quincy-Jones Sesay