Minister for Land and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, is advocating a radical solution to the menace of illegal mining.
He believes the excavators with which the illegal miners are wreaking havoc on the environment and polluting water bodies should be blown up when they are seized.
Currently, the miners are made to pay paltry sums to have their excavators returned.
But Mr. Amewu says this is not punitive enough.
“It has been established that more than 60% of the earth moving equipment brought into this country are…up there deep in the forests excavating [the soil].
“I’m not a fan of going to seize an equipment and keeping it; if you seize an equipment you blow it up,” he stated.
Mr. Amewu drew a dramatic comparison between illegal mining, known in local parlance as galamsey, and cocaine dealing.
“How do you take cocaine and say you are keeping it? You must destroy it for the public to see that it is a wrong thing. What is happening is not different from an illegal trade,” he told Joy FM’s Suoer Morning Show host Kojo Yankson.
There is an historic national anger and mobilisation against the menace of illegal mining.
The involvement of Chinese in the illegal activity appears to have exacerbated the problem.
The Ghana Water Company has made a bleak projection that the country may be forced to import water for consumption in the next decade if the current rate of pollution of water sources continues.
This frightening assessment appears to have jolted many Ghanaians into action with media organisations leading the campaign to end galamsey in Ghana.
Mr. Amewu who has barely spent a month on the job has prioritised ending galamsey.
He has given all illegal miners three weeks to stop digging the earth and destroying the environment in search of gold.
He said the government is adopting a comprehensive policy to tackle the problem, recognising that previous attempts to end galamsey has not yilded the desired results.
The business is lucrative and the miners are not only desperately poor and resilient people, but are also backed by powerful politicians, security commanders and traditional leaders.
“There are three-pronged approach we are using – we’ve started with diplomatic talks with the various foreign countries [whose nationals] are involved in it; that will be followed by a media and public advocacy which will continue for about five years. What is going to follow this advocacy and the diplomatic approach is going to be a combative and militant approach to get them out of their areas of operation,” he said.
Beyond this he said the government also intends to roll out what he called a Multilateral Mining Integration Project (MMIP).
Under this project, he said, the government will reintegrate those who were formerly involved in illegal mining to mine sustainably and under strict supervision.
With the MMIP, “certain acreages of land will be located and a minimum level of exploration will be done to determine the prospective of the area.”
This will stop the current haphazard digging of every part of the earth and its concomitant destruction of the environment.
“We are thinking of coming along with a central processing plant – some of these plants will be put at various process centres so that the miners can bring their ore to be processed for them at a fee,” he said.
This, he stressed, will significantly reduce the rate of pollution and destruction of the environment.
Source: myjoyonline.com
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Mr . minister I support you . because we Ghanaians are doing our self wickedness to our own land destruction and the water . yes ,do action immediately to deter the others after the ultimatum date . because if you apprehend the machine and fine them , they will pay and continue do it . that is the Ghanaians behavior . we Ghanaians need soldier government to control us, if not we will continue do our evil things and return to accuse government ?
Leave the people to enjoy their land When the whites are digging up our land we call it mining, but when the black land owners join in the digging for gold, we call it illegal mining or galamsey. We then try to stop them by coming up with every excuse imaginable. Please leave the poor guys alone to work and feed their families. Just bring in laws to protect the environment and police it
HELLO MISTER IT IS BETTER TO SUGGEST THAT SUCH ESCALATOR BE CONFISCATED TO THE STATE FOR PUBLIC USAGE3
Use it ....dont blow it up.please use your head !!!
It can be given to District and Municipal Assembles for their road mantainance work or to train youth of YEP
Don't blow them up, use them for training the youth in heavy duty equity for road construction. Ameewu, seize them, but don't destroy them. Recycle them into useful purpose.
Wrong! Destroying someone's property for committing a crime is not legal. That will lead to judgement debts.
YOU SEE WHY EWE PEOPLE FIND IT HARD TO BE IN GOVT? THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE AN EDUCATED EWE MAN. BUT SEE HIS SUGGESTION? IS THAT SENSE? HONESTLY. IS THIS SENSE? AND HE SOMEHOW PASSED VETTING. HMMMMMMM.
Massa; Is this Minister CORRECT !!!!and has he just arrived from planet Mars !!!; this is a country called Ghana with multiple develoments needs and where Ghanaians worship money like jesus christ and mohammed ; why do you not use these machines to dredge and clean the the rivers why do you want to blow such valuable machines but perhaps one can understand the ministers point of view because his own party King pins including Mr Bosiako 'Wontumi' are heavily involved in galamasey and will turn round to buy these machines and use them again ; we have Chiefs ; Police officers ; Army officer all involved in this nbusiness for quick cash ; even the backyard of Nana Addo town Kyebi is a scene of appaling rampage of the land by these Kyebi people and their Chief Amoatia; every chief in the eastern region are involved including the civil servants at the ministry and so for I can undertsand the Ministers suggestion but frankly it will not solve the problem ; the government should just make it illegal punishable with prison sentence and heavy fines and deortations ; the question is can Nana Addo do it ? for we are not yet 100 days into his government yet and I smell the virus of ebola corruption within this NPP government !!!!
DESTROYING EXPENSIVE EXCAVATORS OF GALAMSEY OPERATORS IS INFANTILE AND NONSENSICAL. THE EQUIPMENT SEIZED FROM GALAMSEY OPERATORS SHOULD BE GIVEN TO 48 ENGINEERS OF THE GHANA ARMED FORCES TO BE USED FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION IN THE RURAL AND DEPRIVED AREAS. JEAN PIERRE AMEWU SHOULD RETHINK HIS SUGGESTION. DON'T COME OUT HASTILY IN TAKING DECISIONS.