Community support needed to fight illegal mining - Deputy Lands Minister

To succeed in the fight against illegal mining, the government has called for the support of communities in the mining areas, saying attention should be focused on averting the minds of the mining communities to the destructive effects of the menace.

The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources responsible for Mines, Mr George Mireku Duker, who said this at a community engagement at Manso Amenfi in the Wassa Amenfi Central District in the Western Region, despised all forms of illegal mining in the country.

However, he noted that a holistic ban on all forms of small-scale mining activities in the country is not a panacea to the menace of illegal mining.

Mr Duker welcomed military intervention in the fight, adding, however, that it would not address the problem in the long term as the military would not be stationed at the sites indefinitely.

In its place, he proposed engaging stakeholders, including appealing to the consciences of residents in mining communities to get their support for fighting illegal mining.

He noted that with the sector currently employing over one million Ghanaians, a ban would invariably spike the unemployment rate in the country by one more million.

“Putting figures to help contextualise the situation if each of the one million employees in the small-scale mining sector has four dependents, five million Ghanaians could be in trouble if the government heeds to calls for a total ban,” he added.

Instead of a total ban, the Deputy Minister advocated that each situation be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, with stakeholder engagement at the end of it.