The government of Ghana must place a total ban on all galamsey activities to halt the destruction to the environment, Joseph Dinkiok Kpemka – Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice-designate – has said.
“My position on the matter, looking at the gravity of the issue at stake [is for] some ban, complete ban, so that we restructure the system,” he told parliament’s Appointments Committee on Thursday, March 29.
The practice of people undertaking gold mining independent of mining companies without proper laid down procedures have led to the destruction of many water bodies including the Pra and Ankobra rivers, among others.
The deaths caused by collapse of pits and these galamseyers getting buried alive in addition to other chemicals exposed to the environment have compounded the problems associated with the practice.
Five Chinese nationals were arrested recently and are facing prosecution in Ghana for illegally mining gold in the River Ankobra at Bamianko Dawule in the Nzema East municipality.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, had to organise an emergency meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana and the Mayor of China’s Guangxi Zhuang Province to discuss a solution to the menace and the role of Chinese nationals in the illegal practice in the country.
On the back of these developments, Mr Kpemka believes a total ban will be the solution.
“One area that I seek with passion and advocating against is the issue of galamsey which has taken a certain dimension which I have said that if care is not taken we are all on our way to committing mass murder because if all our water bodies are polluted beyond purification and we take in we stand the risk of extinction,” he said.
He noted that his view on the matter “is that some moratorium is placed on it (galamsey)…so that even if we begin to give licences again, it will not serve as destruction to the environment”.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
