Akufo-Addo is sincere in his fight against galamsey, says Inusah Fuseini 

Inusah Fuseini, a former minister of lands and natural resources says he sees sincerity in President Akufo-Addo’s fight against illegal small scale mining in the country.

Fuseini said the fight against illegal small scale mining must be a comprehensive one adding, “I agree with the president. This is not a fight to be left for a single political party. The issue of galamsey affect all of us… so we have a responsibility to protect the water bodies.”

Speaking with Beatrice Adu on The Big Bulletin, he said, “…That is why I believe, listening to President Akufo-Addo, I could see the sincerity in his face, I could see that he meant what he was saying. I could see that he has come to appreciate the issue because when I started the fight against this illegal small scale mining many politicians in Parliament didn’t understand what I was talking about.”

Potential security threat

“You cannot choose and pick when to fight [illegal mining], it must be a continuous fight. It cannot be fought on an ad hoc basis. It must be fought on a blueprint. Illegal small scale mining is devastating in its consequences and the earlier we started seeing it as a potential security risk and a catastrophe we will not be able to fight it.

“Galamsey is pure thievery, the people involve in galamsey do not account for the gold that they rip from the soil, they don’t pay taxes, they are doing that under the radar and the earlier we started fighting them… this is why we created a legal regime so that anybody who wants to engage in small scale mining should go for a licence.”

Blueprint

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has charged a consultative group of experts to propose a comprehensive and workable blueprint on the measures the country should take to deal with the phenomenon of small scale mining, popularly known as “galamsey“.

Addressing the National Consultative Dialogue on Small-Scale Mining on Wednesday 14 April 2021 in Accra under the theme: “Sustainable Small Scale Mining for National Development”, Akufo-Addo said there is nothing wrong with mining or exploiting the minerals the country is blessed with for purposes of development.

He, however, had issues where methods employed to undertake the process, pose a danger to land, water bodies and “the very lives of people.”

Consensus

Akufo-Addo expressed hope that out of the maiden consultative dialogue, stakeholders will help “build a national consensus around a national policy on small scale mining, that promotes a responsible, viable, environmentally sustainable small-scale mining industry; which has discarded the use of mercury, chanfans and excavators; which has barred the involvement of foreign nationals, and which has rejected the destruction of our forests, environment and water bodies”.

He said, “This vision of what small-scale mining should be must have the support of the entire nation. I urge this colloquium to be bold and forthright in its deliberations. In other words, say it as it is. No subject or person should be above critique. Politicians, traditional authorities, policymakers, media, so-called influential people, should all not be beyond your scrutiny. 

“At the end of the day, what the Ghanaian people expect from this process are solutions which will assist in dealing with this endemic problem. I have confidence in the integrity of the people gathered in this room, and I am sure that, out of your deliberations, a workable blueprint will be produced,” Akufo-Addo stated.

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