Mr Adam Bonaa, a security analyst, has advised the Akufo Addo led government to take steps in addressing the concerns of the Small Scale Miners Association.
Mr Bonaa’s comment comes on the back of the two weeks ultimatum given to the government by the Small Scale Miners Association to flash out illegal miners operating in the forest reserves in the country.
According to the miners, they will flash out the illegal miners from the forest if the government fails to do so after the ultimatum.
Speaking on the matter in an interview, Mr. Bonaa revealed that the laws of the country justifies the actions the Small Scale Miners want to take.
“I think we should take it very seriously. We should treat it as a country very seriously. But I think that they are within the law if they decide to flash out illegal small-scale miners and foreigners and by extension Chinese nationals who are depleting our forest cover and destroying our water bodies. The law mandates them if you look at section 12 of the criminal code, the 12.1(B) talks about a private person may arrest without a warrant a person who commits an offence in his presence. The D talks about an offence of injury to public property and water bodies, forest reserve all these names I have mentioned we will refer to as public property.
”And so, I think the two weeks ultimatum they have given, if the government or whoever is responsible for it refuses to act, I don’t think they will be breaching any law if they enter into these areas and arrest all these suspected foreign nationals or suspected illegal small-scale miners and hand them over to the police within a reasonable time. That is what the law says and they wouldn’t be breaching any law. The only thing is that the state should not wait for that to happen because the spill over we might not be able to deal with it.”
Adam Bonaa
According to the security analyst, the state has been careless in dealing with illegal small-scale miners and the Chinese or foreign nationals who he alleged are destroying the water bodies and forest cover.
Mr. Bonaa therefore advised the State to act fast in dealing with the situation since the effects and spill-over could be terrible and may not be easily handled by the security agencies.
Mr Adam Bonaa continued by saying, “So, as far as I am concerned, the State should for once take up that mantle and ensure that they don’t look on while the private citizens decide to invoke section 12 of the criminal code. We shouldn’t sit and say go ahead and arrest these people because they are committing an offence that involves injury to public property. Like you referred to, most of these guys are armed, with sophisticated weapons like AK47, some of them have pump action guns, side arms and the list is unending.”
“I wouldn’t be able to tell what format the arrest is going to be. Are the concerned small-scale miners also going to be armed going there? Then you are likely to have an all-out war because then they are going to go in for probably a shootout. Probably, if that happens then the state is going to come back to its senses and perform its national duty by ensuring that our water bodies are not destroyed.”
Adam Bonaa
Association Kicks Against Calls For Ban On Small-Scale Mining
It could be recalled that members of the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners (GNASSM) kicked against calls for a ban on small-scale mining and warned that they will resist attempts by any institution to do so.
The Association at the time noted that its members were still trying to recover from the losses and hardship brought onto them following the ban on their operations in 2017.
In latter part of 2022, religious leaders and other civil society groups called for an immediate ban on all small-scale mining activities to help fight against illegal mining activities effectively. The call followed the continuous destruction of major water bodies and the environment due to the activities of illegal miners in some parts of the country.
However, speaking at a news conference in Kumasi, the General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners, Godwin Armah insisted members of the Association will resist attempts to ban their operations.
Mr Armah revealed that the Association has noted with great concern, discourse in the media by Ghanaians on the pollution of rivers and water bodies and the destruction of the environment as a result of illegal mining activities in the country, and was making frantic efforts to help address the menace. He described calls for banning small-scale mining as insensitive and a lazy man’s approach in handling the illegal mining issues.
The Association further called for a Community Enforcement Approach in dealing with the illegal mining issue and insisted that Illegal mining was a ‘National Challenge’, but the solution was at the local level and there was no way the menace will prevail when communities are properly organized to manage mining in their areas. It also called for the formation of committees in mining communities which will consist of some traditional leaders, religious leaders, representatives from the youth and the small-scale miners to manage mining-related issues in the community, and they must work closely with the District Mining Committees.
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