The Minister of Lands and Natural Resource Designate, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has warned his administration will deal ruthlessly with illegal miners also known as galamsey.
He has hinted of plans for the formation of water guards in a move to help deal with the illegal mining menace in the country.
Illegal small-scale mining in Ghana is destroying the environment, making people ill, adding to water scarcity and damaging farmlands and crops such as cocoa.
Civil society groups have since called on President John Mahama to declare a state of emergency in addressing the menace.
Appearing before the Appointment Committee on Monday ( 27 January), Armah-Kofi Buah said when given the nod, he will ensure government identify mineralized areas to promote responsible mining.
”We are going to work with the mineral commission to make sure we’re working with the geological survey to have geological investigation to identify mineralized areas where we can now focus attention in groups.”
”Nobody is going to wait for four years to get a learning license. They will do illegal mining. But guess what? We are going to make the process such a way that it is easy for them to go through the process,” he said.
He added ”Ultimately, our focus is to make sure that we deal with people who are engaged in illegal mining ruthlessly because we’ve created a pathway, we’ve empowered the community to do the right thing. And that is what we are going to do.”
Watch the vetting in the attached video below:
