Akufo-Addo to experts: Propose workable blueprint to deal with galamsey

The 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 proces, pose a danger to land, water bodies and “the very lives of people.”

“It is absolutely crucial that deliberations at this consultative dialogue be candid, and devoid of partisanship or narrow parochial interests. Hopefully, at the end of the day, we should be able to build a broad-based national consensus around the necessity to stamp out the menace of illegal small-scale mining, and the need to support and grow responsible small-scale mining,” Akufo-Addo said.

“There are aspects of our national life which are fair subject matters of partisan politics. We must however, come to the understanding that small scale mining, and the requirement to do away with illegalities in that sector, should be beyond partisan politics. Some subjects simply cannot be part of our everyday politicking, and I urge this forum to insist that illegal small-scale mining, and matters relating to it, should be one of such issues requiring national effort,” he said.

Government’s responsibility

According to Akufo-Addo, government has a major responsibility to be accountable for the stewardship of the mining sector just like all other sectors of national life. President Akufo-Addo added that he was “determined to enforce the laws on illegal mining no matter the subject, high or low.”

“I will do so irrespective of the standing of the person or persons involved. That is the true meaning of equality before the law,” Akufo-Addo said.

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”.

“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, policy makers, 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.

Minister’s response

The minister responsible for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, noted that the motive of the conference is to solicit views, proposals and suggestions from diverse stakeholders in the small-scale mining industry, to develop appropriate policy interventions for the sector.

He indicated that the two-day dialogue is bipartisan and it was his hope that the president’s quest to find an amicable solution to the galamsey phenomenon in Ghana would be realised out of the consultative dialogue.

Wilberforce Asare

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