The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has intimated that the National Alternative Livelihood Programme (NAELP) seeks to mitigate the unavoidable hardship which comes with government’s effort to sanitize the small-scale mining sector.
Speaking at the launch of the NAELP, he averred that the Program has become necessary due to some miners losing their source of livelihood and as such have to look for alternatives.
“It is intended to provide good economic livelihood options to illegal mining and its associated activities and to enable those adversely impacted the opportunity to work and support themselves and their families”.
President Akufo-Addo
The Programme, the President said, will focus on reversing the negative impact of illegal mining on the environment through the National Land Reclamation and Reafforestation Component programme.
“This component of the programme will restore degraded lands into economically viable lands creating job opportunities for the youth, land owners and communities at large”.
President Akufo-Addo
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President Akufo-Addo indicated that it has become necessary while working with the security agencies to curb the menace of illegal mining by providing alternative forms of livelihood for those affected by its crackdown.
“This is important because our mineral resources are finite and we will not have them forever. We should diversify our sources of livelihood even in mining communities to reduce the impact of the depletion of the resources on our social and economic lives”.
President Akufo-Addo
The Lands Ministry, the President indicated, has entered into partnership to provide alternative livelihood to help the social and economic growth in the mining communities.
Nana Akufo-Addo stated that citizens owe a sacred duty to protect the environment even as the nation reaps the benefits of the country’s natural resources. He said the sheer impact of the galamsey activities means that government cannot allow those involved to continue and as such taken this approach to tackle the issue and also demonstrate it’s commitment.
MLNR committed to delivering responsible mining schemes
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resource, Samuel Abu Jinapor, also speaking at the launch intimated that his ministry is committed to delivering a well-regulated and responsible environmentally sound community mining schemes across the country before the end of 2022.
He disclosed that some five schemes have been launched;and has the capacity to provide employment, adding that the Ministry is expecting to launch 18 schemes and 100 concessions to mitigate illegal mining by the end of the year.
“Our commitment is to deliver. We will have proper database of miners, environmental officers on site, changing rooms for miners and sickbays. There will truly be modern community mining schemes and certainly not permit this operation at galamsey slips through the backdoor”.
Samuel Jinapor
He noted that the NAELP is the first of such a comprehensive programme in the history of the mining sector and expressed gratitude to the President for the policy initiative.
Mr. Jinapor stated that the ministry, together with some agencies per the President’s directives have adopted several policy measures to come to grips with the menace of illegal mining and its devastating consequence on the environment.
He further noted that there has been engagement with persons involved in the illegal mining and the results have been positive. He stated that they have, through the regional visits, also held effective discussions with the regional house of chiefs, REGSEC and small-scale miners.
