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Traditional leaders in the country have been called upon to exert their authority in their respective areas to end illegal mining (galamsey) in the country.
According to the Paramount Chief of the Nangodi Traditional Area, Naba Napariyong Kosom Asaga Yelzoya II, the political class was only paying lip service to the fight against the menace.
At a stakeholder engagement on mining in Bolgatanga yesterday, he urged Civil Society Organisations and other stakeholders to engage traditional leaders, health practitioners, and the academia to devise strategies to tackle it head-on.
“The politicians are not interested in the ‘galamsey’ fight today or tomorrow because they are actively involved in it. You have to join hands with chiefs and queen mothers if you are really interested in stemming the canker,” he noted.
Organised by the Ghana Chamber of Mines (GCM), the event was part of month-long stakeholder engagement being with legal miners, chiefs and other stakeholders to promote responsible mining.
It targeted stakeholders from the mining communities in Talensi and Nabdam districts in the Upper East Region, where two mining companies are operating.
The paramount chief said the leadership of the various parties, especially the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), had demonstrated beyond reasonable doubts they were not prepared to shoulder the fight against galamsey.
He explained that the sustained silence from active political players spoke volumes of their apathy toward the fight against the menace.
NabaYelzoya II used the platform to caution the small scale and large scale miners in the region; El International Mining Group (formerly called Shaanxi Mining Limited) and Cardinal Namdini Mine, to mine responsibly.
Speaking to journalists after the programme, the Director for External Relations and Communication for the GCM, Ahmed Nantogmah, said the chamber was looking forward to achieving positive outcomes in its advocacy for responsible mining Ghana.
“So today, we have come to the Upper East Region to engage stakeholders from the mining communities in Talensi and Nabdam districts where two mining companies are operating.
“We have told them to give job opportunities to the youth in the communities and honour their cooperate social responsibilities without fail,” he explained.
The Co-Chair of the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, Dr Steve Manteaw, described the call for the ban of all mining activities in the country as unjustifiable.
Instead, he said, the advocates should direct the call on illegal mining, where miners were engaged in mining on water courses and causing harm.
Dr Manteaw indicated that the call for a ban of the activities of small scale and large scale miners would attract legal consequences, “because large scale miners have a contract with the government, and we cannot unilaterally abrogate the contract.
FROM FRANCIS DABRE DABANG, BOLGATANGA
