Ing. Ken Ashigbey, member of the Coalition of the media against illegal mining, has described the President’s deployment of military personnel to the waterbodies as “better late than never”.
Speaking on the recent directive by the President, he suggested that the exercise be carried out using a combination of different forces to clear out the illegal miners at the various waterbodies.
“The kind of water that we are talking about, you definitely need a combination;of navy and the air force to fly over the waters and definitely the military. Because, in Ghana, mining close to water bodies, is illegal.
“I think it’s better late than never. This was one of the errors we made in the past and it is good that the military has been sent in there.”
Ing Ashigbey
He then questioned if after the deployment of these military men, some measures have been put down to monitor them. Especially with their activities on the various sites.
“How are we ensuring that there is better supervision of it? How are we ensuring that they are also not overstepping their bounds and are not doing anything wrong? And that those who are doing wrong will have to been punished.”
Ing Ashigbey
Ing. Ashigbey also averred that activities undertaken by the military on these water bodies must be transparent. This, he explained, is because the military are not only dealing with illegal miners; but civilians as well and as such there must be some form of transparency.
“It is important that a lot of information will flow so that we will see what is happening. There must be transparency so that we see what they are doing and so that, it will also deter them.”
Ing Ashigbey
Collaborate with media for transparency
Ing Ashigbey further suggested a collaboration between the military and the media;so that there can be some form of reportage on happenings at the various sites. He added that this will serve as a galvanizing force for everybody and ensure that “we will all work together …”
He also called for a multi-sectorial approach to make sure that the nation gets to a point where it can have sustainable legal mining.
Countering this view, the President of the Concerned Small-scale Miners Association, Michael Peprah, said that the previous use of the military approach had not yielded any results. He said although it is a good approach, he does not see it bringing the results the nation is expecting.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo today, April 28, 2021 authorized the Ghana Armed Forces to deploy 200 soldiers to go after all persons involved in illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.
A release from the Information Ministry stated that the move is to ensure that mining within water bodies are immediately stopped. The statement added that the operation commenced on Wednesday, April 28th, 2021, on the River Pra in the Central and Western regions of Ghana.
The Ministry of Defence and the Ghana Armed forces are expected to provide a detailed brief of developments and sustainability efforts on Friday, 30th April 2021.
