• Joseph Osei-Owusu believes more stringent measures can be made to tackle it
• He said if he could, he would pass a legislation to kill people engaged in it
For the second major time, the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, is pushing for illegal miners who ply their trade along water bodies to be shot to death.
Speaking on Ultimate FM in Kumasi, he said that he does not understand why people whose activities deny others the rights to live, as they pollute their source of water, should be allowed to exist, reports ghnevironment.org.
“So as I said earlier, if I have my way, I would change the law and add that, any person who mines to destroy our water bodies is shot and killed. That, I think is the major solution to this canker,” he said.
In 2018, Joseph Osei Owusu made a similar call, advocating for severe sanctions to be meted out to people engaged in galamsey (illegal mining).
He insists that these people should not be treated with kid gloves.
“Mr. Speaker, extreme behavior must be met with extreme response. We are dealing with people who are determined to make their money at every cost notwithstanding the damage they do to the environment,” he said.
The Member of Parliament for Bekwai has also stated that if he had his own way, he would pass a legislation to exact this proposal of his.
“Sometimes we need to be strong on wrongdoers. We are pampering wrongdoers in this country too much,” he added.
He however commended the government for its approach at tackling the menace, stressing that there is the need for these to be sustained to save the country from the future environmental and economic efforts that galamsey could have on the country.
Joseph Osei-Owusu is the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament