Galamsey Fight Receives $200million Boost

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, has indicated that as part of government's efforts to eliminate the activities of illegal miners in the long-term, it has developed a Multilateral Mining Integrated Project (MMIP), which would be implemented over the next five years at an estimated cost of $200 million

According to him, the project, which has been taken through validation, is being fine-tuned to enable the government secure the requisite financial and other resources to start its implementation.

The Minister made this known in Parliament on Tuesday when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Wassa East, Isaac Adjei Mensah asked him what steps the Ministry was taking to close down 'galamsey' sites and how many have so been closed.

The Minister said illegal mining activities were threatening livelihoods and sources of water when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government took over power in January, 2017.

“It is this preponderance of the flouting of the legislative framework for such operations by a large number or proportion of small scale miners, with its associated threat to life and property that led government to declare a six-month moratorium on all small-scale mining activities in April, 2017,” the minister said.

He noted that moratorium was to create the opportunity to eliminate the worst forms of illegal activity and ensure that small-scale mining was streamlined with due regard to the environment, safety and other land use dimension.

He said that four percent of Ghana's 238,000 sq km land mass has been devastated by illegal mining activities.

The Minister said with the deployment of taskforce codenamed 'Operation Vanguard' to clamp down on the activities of the illegal miners, about 90% of heavy duty earth-moving machinery at galamsey sites have been evacuated while 3,000 floating platforms on river bodies have been destroyed with 347 illegal miners arrested and put before court.

He said the MMIP combines a 'Legislation, Enforcement, Civil Integrated and Technological Approach' as a sustainable and structured but regimented conjoint concept which will encompass multi-stakeholders in dealing with the galamsey menace.

By Thomas Fosu Jnr