Nana Ansah Kwao IV, head of Akwamu Adumasa, attributed the endless illegal mining activity – “galamsey” – to the continued growth in the size of the country’s population.
According to him, this was driving up the unemployment rate in the country, with the desire for survival fueling the situation.
He said this as he contributed to discussions of the ‘galamsey’ threat on an Accra-based radio station monitored by the Ghana News Agency on Saturday.
“The fundamental problem of all the threat to this problem is the rate at which the population is increasing, but some how, as a country, it is a taboo subject for us. If you look at our economy and the number of new babies we give birth to per year, there is absolutely no way to give them good roads, sanitation, education before December; before we put in another 900,000 new babies, a large percentage of which come from the lower end of the spectrum where the financial muscle is not too strong,” he noted.
Nana Kwao IV therefore called for drastic measures to be put in place and family planning encouraged to curb the rapid population growth.
“What we traditional rulers refuse to understand is that the principles have not changed, but the times have changed and therefore the reasons why our ancestors did certain things, the thing is still valid but can “Be the reason you can change it, the purpose, you can’t change it. And that’s why we got here, greed and survival,” he said.
Dr. Henry Kokofu, executive director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), noted that insufficient staff were hampering the agency’s efforts to regularly monitor the activities of mining companies to ensure that they obeyed the law.
He, however, revealed that the Agency was in the process of procuring some 45 vehicles to help monitor the activities of mining companies, especially “galamsey” in the country.
He said this would allow the Agency to identify and arrest mining companies and individuals who have flouted the country’s mining laws by engaging in illegal activities.
“First time in EPA history we are buying 45 vehicles, 25 of which are heavy duty mining Land Cruisers that the big miners use and it is equipped with all the necessary equipment including GPS, siren and everything what we need to work with… So we can walk boot for boot with illegal operators,” he said.
The EPA boss noted that the agency has taken numerous actions, including sanctioning and revoking the mining licenses of companies and individuals who perpetuate illegalities, in an effort to combat the galamsey threat.
He said the EPA is currently working with the Minerals Commission to activate the reclamation bond to ensure that all mined land is returned to its original state.
Regulation 23 of the Environmental Assessment Regulations, 1999 (LI 1652) requires the EPA to ensure that future small-scale miners post reclamation bonds in the form of cash in an escrow account based on reclamation plans approved before they receive mining permits.
Elembelle District Chief Executive Mr Francis Kwasi Bonzoh has rejected calls from part of the public for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives to be sacked for failing to deal with the ‘galamasey’ threat.
He described it as a “quiet simplicity”, explaining that the players in the “galamsey” company were powerful and highly connected, which made the fight against canker very difficult.
Dr Tony Aubynn, President of the African Extractive Industries Institute, urged the Minerals Commission to monitor concessions given to mining companies to ensure the right thing was done.
Source: GNA