As the fight to end galamsey remains one of government’s top agendas, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Samuel Abu Jinapor, has announced that individuals who sell or give out their lands to illegal miners shall be punished.
This latest measure from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is going to be supported by partners who will be brought on board to help fight illegal small-scale mining, Mr. Jinapor said. He mentioned that galamsey was a major issue in the country, and they have been trying to tackle this matter by putting in a series of measures and interventions to be able to help them solve this issue.
“We haven’t gotten to a satisfactory situation yet, I think it’s important that we admit that. We still have challenges, we still have difficulties out there. We’ve ramped up our efforts. As you know, the military are now there forcefully trying to get back… the military are back out there, they are back on the river bodies trying to clear the river bodies, trying to clear the forest reserve of our country.”
Samuel Abu Jinapor
According to the minister, he had a major important and extensive meeting with the forestry board, and they arrived at some conclusions that they will try every possible means to protect all the 261 forest reserves in the country from illegal small-scale mining.
“There are some new measures we are intending to bring onboard. For example, we’ve began examining or investigating the possibilities of going to parliament to seek legislative intervention which will say that, anybody who was to give out land; any stool, king, family, clan or individual who gives out land for the purposes of illegal small-scale mining, the state will have the right to confiscate the land.”
Samuel Abu Jinapor
Mr. Jinapor said that he believes that these measures will help, because illegal mining has led to the increase in deforestation, and although he intends to clamp down galamsey in general, his main focus is on the forest reserves of the country.
Galamsey And Terrorism
According to Dr. Kwesi Biney, Managing Partner of ACCORD, terrorist agents from the various terrorist groups around the world might be camping in the country or in galamsey sites in order to gather intel. He said that these terrorist agents have been around for quite some time now and they have been monitoring the communication processes especially from political bodies and the media.
There are different kinds of intelligence, and the kind of intel that is picked is supposed to be thoroughly analyzed and handled by the right agency, he said. He also mentioned that all the intel and information out there are put together by the officials of these terrorist groups and informs them of what to do next.
“They wouldn’t mind taking twenty years to gather intelligence and the day they strike, that’s the disaster. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any kind of terrorist in the world who have really gone to act on fields of their targets, because they take their time. So, galmsey is actually one of the very prone areas, that is true but then, that should be an internal subject to be dealt with as well.”
Kwesi Biney
Mr. Biney stated that, terrorists are always looking for an avenue to strike, and they need just a little space to cause great harm, therefore it is the duty of the security agents in the aspect of intelligence to be able to handle information. He also said that not everything is supposed to be put out there.
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