President of the Concerned Small-Scale Miners Association of Ghana, Michael Kojo Peprah, says he believes there is an ulterior motive behind the burning of the seized excavators.
According to him, the burning of excavators is targeted at pushing some miners out of business. He also said the move in the first place is an illegal. This, he explained, is not in line with the Mining Act of the country.
“With what is going on, there are a lot of questions to be asked and there are a lot of answers that we need to demand. At the end of the day, if we don’t follow the right procedure then it becomes a problem. The Mining Act states clearly on what should be done to excavators of galamseyers. It states clearly that we must confiscate those excavators to the state. This is because at the time you confiscate the equipment, you wouldn’t be able to tell if the person is an illegal miner or not. There are a lot of issues with this operation going on.
“As and when things happen, we will let Ghanaians understand that whatever is going is targeted at some people. At the end of the day we speak out and let the truth be unveiled.”
Michael Peprah
His comment comes on the back of the directive by the Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, that all the seized galamsey equipment including excavators be destroyed on site by the military officers deployed to the galamsey areas.
Licensed small-scale miners affected
Meanwhile, the Small-Scale Miners Association have expressed discontent with the burning of mining equipment of its members. Also
The Communications Director for the Association, Abdul Razak Alhassan,;disclosed that some licensed small-scale miners have been affected by the military operation.
Addressing the media, he said the military was deployed to specific river bodies, but they are seeing a situation where they veer into communities with licensed small-scale miners and end up burning their equipment.
Some of the communities, he stated, are Asamoakorom and Awusem, both in Twifo Praso District of the Central Region.
He further described the military action as a stab in the back as there was no mention of the military operations affecting them at the Stakeholders Dialogue on Small Scale Mining.
“We need clarifications on the President’s directive to the military. Because we do not understand why the government made a u-turn on the issues raised at the meeting held at the Accra International Conference Centre.
“We never discussed anything about involving the military in clearing people operating with legally acquired licenses.”
Abdul Alhassan
He also requests the government to liaise with the Minerals Commission to clearly map out areas that are authorized for small-scale mining, so they do not fall victim to the military operation.
The Association warned of a three-day nationwide demonstration if their concerns are not addressed within 7 days.
“We are giving the government 7 days to address these concerns. If nothing is heard from them, we will embark on a three-day nationwide demonstration.”
Abdul Alhassan
