News:
August 25, 2017
Member of Parliament (MP) for Prestea/Huni-Valley and Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resource, Barbara Oteng Gyasi says governments move to stop illegal mining in the country is aimed at ensuring that mining on the small scale is done legally and in a proper way.
She further revealed that small scale mining is restricted to indigenous people but for certain reasons foreignersare engaging in the small scale mining, “we want to put a stop to that”.
Basically we are on course in putting a halt to this illegal activities in Ghana, some of these illegal miners say they will not vote for us. But if we are able to streamline the small scale mining they will derive a lot of benefit from it, she emphasised.
According to the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources water bodies in areas where illegal mining activities were taking place are now looking clean rather than the previous brown water.
She cited the Eastern, Ashanti and the Western Regions as places where the small scale illegal mining are still ongoing hence the deployment of the joint taskforce operation vanguard.
The Prestea/Huni/Valley law maker further noted that the taskforce on the ground are doing a good job, but was quick to add that it is regrettable that there had been few incidents that had occurred.
She noted that, the taskforce is not on the ground to harm anybody, they have been advised not to burn any equipment because the law says “we should confiscate the equipment”.
Subsequently the sector Minister may decide what the equipment may be used for the Deputy Minister said.
By:KwakuSakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com