Former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources and Member of Parliament for Damongo, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has urged the government to take decisive action against the growing menace of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Point of View yesterday, Jinapor said the government must focus on three key areas to effectively combat the issue. These include addressing alleged political involvement in illegal mining activities, confronting the culture of impunity surrounding galamsey, and honoring the government’s manifesto promise to declare a state of emergency in mining districts.
On the alleged political involvement, Jinapor said, “There is obviously a clear case or situation of political actors and in some cases, political class at the high level allegedly involved in this issue of illegal small-scale mining… It is our turn to take our share of the illegal mining galamsey turf.”
Jinapor also noted that the culture of impunity surrounding galamsey must be addressed.
“I think there is also an issue of impunity that has creeped in… So government must begin to look at that critically and look at how to exorcise the culture of impunity when it comes to the fight against illegal mining,” he said.
Regarding the government’s manifesto promise, Jinapor said, “The opposition at the time supported Civil Societies call and went a step further to commit and promise that when voted into office… they will declare a state of emergencies in mining districts of our country.”
Jinapor urged the government to clarify its current stance on this commitment, saying, “We should hear from them. They should come out and say we will impose a state of emergency at such and such time or we will not impose a state of emergency because of A, B, C reasons. But not to say anything and to leave it hanging I think is not a proper way of proceeding.”