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Deputy Lands Minister George Mireku Duker has pushed back against calls by organized labour for a total ban on mining, describing such demands as “misdirected”.
He says that rather than targeting all forms of mining, the focus should remain on combating illegal operations that harm Ghana’s natural resources.
Duker, who is serving as MP for Tarkwa-Nsuaem in the Western Region pointed to the 2020 elections, where the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) lost significant support in mining communities due to President Akufo-Addo’s tough stance against illegal mining.
Addressing community members and traditional leaders at Meretweso, a mining community in the Upper Denkyira East Municipality of the Central Region to launch the community mining scheme on Thursday (12 September) the Minister expressed disappointment that organized labour had failed to hold opposition leader John Mahama accountable for pledging to release individuals imprisoned for illegal mining.
“It is a crime to mine illegally on our waterbodies and as citizens, we must join the government to tackle this head-on. If communities along river bodies join the fight against irresponsible mining our rivers will be back to life. I have heard organized labour making calls to ban all forms of mining, but I want to say the call on the ban on mining is misdirected”, Duker stated in
“I was expecting them to have condemned the statement made by former President John Mahama before calling for this action. Because you can just come out of the blue and just call for a ban. Ban on what? What are the metrics, analysis have they done?
“The former President’s statement was unfortunate. Why didn’t they ask him to apologise? he quizzed adding: “I am personally against the call for the ban on mining”.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has ordered the deployment of the police and the military to crack down on illegal small-scale mining as calls grow for action.
The decision was taken after a national security meeting to assess the impact of galamsey on river bodies and the environment.
Touching briefly about the latest directive Mr Mireku Duker said, “We are going to have guards to safeguard the destruction of our river bodies to ensure that the rivers are clean from dirt. have to protect our God-given natural resources”.
SOURCE: DAILY MAIL GH
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