Illegal mining: Fire your men who are failing – Dr Oduro Osae to Prez
Governance expert, Dr Eric Oduro Osae, has told President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to be bold and sack failed officials tasked with curtailing illegal mining in Ghana.
The activities of illegal miners have increased in recent times, despite several efforts by the government to tackle the menace.
Figures reveal how Ghana may run out of potable water soon due to galamsey
The culprits engage in these activities without fear as they hold the perception that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government will be soft on them to gain votes in the upcoming 2020 elections.
“If his men and women are failing him, he should muster courage and fire them,” Dr Oduro Osae directed when he appeared as a guest on Newsfile, Joy News’ current affairs programme, on Saturday.
His comments come in the wake of reports showing that illegal miners defied the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, and continued their activities when the minister’s convoy drove past them at the Fure forest reserve in the Prestea-Huni-Valley District.
Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Professor Frimpong Boateng, has also admitted that seized excavators disappeared with the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), pegging the number at 500.
NDC demands display of excavators, and other seized mining equipment from ‘galamseyers’
This drew fury from the OccupyGhana pressure group and the Media Coalition Against Illegal Mining, who tasked Prof Boateng to trace the equipment.
The Operation Vanguard taskforce, comprising the military and the police , has also been recalled from their duties.
“I’m getting disappointed,” Dr Oduro Osae lamented.
He stressed, “The ‘galamsey’ fight is something we have to win”.
To curtail the wanton destruction of water bodies and forests, he said the government must conscientise Ghanaians and educate them to stand up against the menace.
He was concerned that the outcome of the activities of illegal miing “will be [the] importing [of] water into the country” soon due to the ran out of potable water.
In his opinion, the operation of the IMCIM must be decentralised.
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He criticised the leadership of the committee for holding meetings in Accra to take decisions, while expecting District Chief Executives (DCE) to implement them at the galamsey sites.
He did not understand why President Akufo-Addo would publicly declare that he was putting his presidency on the line while a minister would fail to act for the sake of political expediency.
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