News:
October 9, 2024
Member of Parliament for Akwatia Henry Yiadom Boakye said politicising illegal mining “Galamsey” in Ghana which is leading to the pollution of major water bodies in the Country is not in the interest of any political party.
According to him Ghanaians need to stand firm in their fight against galamsey, adding that he is coming from an area where mining has been done for years in West Africa, “we have GCBL, that is consolidated Diamon limited which is situated in my constituency and in the past years what I have experienced”.
Mr Boakye stated that he was once a stakeholder in the industry, “I was in the industry before I became a politician; we did not have such challenges as we are seeing today with galamsey in my constituency. What we had was contributors’ association”.
This, he explained to mean that when the big companies fished mining out, their site is given to the indigenes (small scale mining companies) of the constituency to work on under the same license that the big company worked, thus it cannot be described as illegal mining because “it’s a mine out area that has been given to the indigenes to work on to have a livelihood and survive”, he pointed out in an interview.
Hon. Henry Boakye Yiadom, a member of the Government Assurance Committee further added that he is not impressed with the answers given by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Minerals Commission Mr. Martin Ayisi when he appeared before the Committee on Monday, October 7, 2024, in Parliament House.
He added that figures given by the CEO of the Minerals Commission with regard to license on mining activities is not clear and they do not have a report of the thirteen regions that mining activities take place.
He was confused about government’s intransigent posture as it continuous to issue more mining licenses despite the public uproar following the level of pollution of our major water bodies.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com