Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, the Convener of the Media Coalition Against Illegal Mining, has voiced concerns about how the government is handling galamsey, or illegal mining.
He claims that despite some efforts to lessen the threat, the situation is still dire.
Despite some efforts, the overall problem still exists, according to Dr. Ashigbey.
He drew attention to the concerning condition of the nation’s forest reserves, pointing out that nine of them had been designated off-limits because of illicit mining operations.
Dr Ashigbey stated that although two reserves in the Ashanti Region have been reclaimed, he warned that task forces sent to combat illegal mining in these areas are often outnumbered and outgunned by illegal miners.
Additionally, he criticized the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources for not acting more quickly, pointing out that,” “in 62 days, the honourable minister has still not taken the actions yet, though I’m hearing that some actions are going to be taken to repeal a law that the NDC were prepared to take private members’ bill into parliament to go and deal with it.”
“The elephant in the room is the politically exposed people who are involved in this,” he said, adding, “for me, I would have expected a bit more decisive action from His Excellency, the President.”
“When the Aowin MP, for example, was fingered by the traditional authority as being involved in galamsey, and he also said he was not involved…you would have expected His Excellency, the President who, on July 7, had indicated that he was not going to tolerate the kingpins—they were the people he was going to go after—you’d have been expecting that His Excellency would have publicly ordered an investigation into that particular inquiry,”Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey told Joy News.
