Gov't Should Compensate Small-Scale Miners

Ranking Member on Parliament's Mines and Energy Committee, Adam Mutawakilu wants the government to compensate small-scale miners who were affected by the blanket ban on all small-scale mining activities.

According to him, the directive for all small-scale mining activities to be ceased cost many properly licensed mining companies and individuals a lot of money, and it may be difficult for them to recover without government support.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Friday, Adam Mutawakilu, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Damongo, said many of the small-scale miners had taken loans whose interest has accumulated and left them heavily indebted.

“The small-scale mining was banned meanwhile legitimately government gave them the permit to mine. Most of these small-scale miners had gone for bank loans and as a result will have to pay interest. Meanwhile, when the ban was imposed on the small-scale miners, the interest rate accumulated. As a result of no fault of theirs, they will be forced to pay the 22-month interest accumulation. The government should have made an effort to compensate these small scale miners so that at least the interest that has been accumulated as a result of the ban, they will settle that so that they will put the small-scale miners in their original position as if the ban never took place,” he said.

The government on Friday announced the lifting of the ban on small-scale mining after nearly 20 months since it ordered a halt in the operations of the miners.

The lifting of the ban follows the successful vetting of 1,350 small-scale miners, out of which over 900 have now been given licenses to operate.

Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation

According to the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, Prof. Frimpong Boateng, the committee was able to successfully implement all the strategies to curb illegal mining prior to lifting the ban.

But Mutawakilu disagrees with him.

According to him, the government has failed to achieve all of its targets for which it announced the ban on small-scale mining.

He said most water bodies in the country are still polluted, an indication that the fight against illegal small-scale mining has been unsuccessful.

“The fact of the matter is that our water bodies are still not clean. I’ve personally visited some places and our water bodies are still not clean. It is evident that Aisha Huang who was arrested is back to the and still involved in illegal mining.”

As we speak, all the cardinal points this government wanted to achieve as a result of this ban, they have not been able to achieve.

While stressing that the government was being hypocritical in addressing the challenge of illegal small-scale mining, Adam Mutawakilu said the ban was ultimately unnecessary because that government deliberately did not act against some persons who flouted it.

Fight Against Galamsey not over

Meanwhile, Ken Ashigey, Convener of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey, has said the fight against illegal mining , popularly known as Galamsey has not been won yet .

Ken Ashigbe

Speaking on Citi TV's News Analysis Programme, The Point of View, Mr. Ashigbey said despite the measures adopted to permanently tackle Galamsey, Chinese nationals , who in his view are the “conveyor belts of Galamsey”, are still trooping into the country to engage in the activity.

“The fight against illegal mining is a war that has not been completed. ..I came from Adisababa today and on the flight from Adisababa there were a lot of Chinese on the flight and you look at Ghana and you wonder whether these Chinese are coming as business people or tourists. What are they coming to do. You know another interesting thing?

“Because Ghana is asking them to get visas before they come what they are doing is they are coming to our neighboring countries and they are being smuggled in, so definitely the conveyer belt has not stopped. The interesting thing is these Chinese are arrested operating within the forest reserve. What is the Forestry Commission doing?”

Source: citinewsroom.com | Ghana