Military deployment won’t stop galamsey - Small-scale mining PRO

The Director of Communications for the Association of Small Scale Miners, Abdul Razak Alhassan, has opined that the deployment of military men by the government at galamsey sites will not completely fight illegal mining (galamsey).

According to him, the deployment of the military is just a short term approach and not a long term approach to the menace.

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, made it known recently that the government had deployed soldiers to galamsey communities to halt the menace.

According to him, the new measures are being implemented by the government to combat illegal small-scale mining, otherwise known as “galamsey.”

He said, unlike the previous military operations, which took three months, the new campaign would be a sustained effort until the galamsey menace is brought to a satisfactory situation.

The Minister who said this during the Meet The Press Encounter series held in Accra called for a change of attitude and collaboration with all stakeholders to help win the fight against galamsey.

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Speaking on Atinka TV‘s morning show, Ghana Nie with Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu, Abdul Razak Alhassan said, “The military has been in the system; maybe they have increased their number,, and as at last week, the military was on the field.” They are sending away the galamseyers and excavators.

"They sometimes go to people’s homes to seize excavators, but is that the solution? Since Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s regime, governments have come and gone. Even former President John Agyekum Kufour pursued the galamseyers.

"They all used the military. Where did it get to? Even the late Jerry John Rawlings, who was a military man, could not stop it. The military cannot solve the problem because it is a short-term approach.”

He suggested that the government instead engage industry players in understanding how the game is played and how to completely combat it.

Meanwhile, Abdul Razak Alhassan said some small-scale miners have taken it upon themselves to help the government fight galamsey and ensure that polluted rivers close to where they operate will be clean, pointing to the river Birim.

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