President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo should be commended for the bold initiative in dealing with the illegal small scale mining (galamsey) in spite of the effect of the move on the number of votes obtained by the President in last year’s elections, Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul, has said.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Friday April 30 he said the galamsey fight is a bold decision by the president that must be commended.
It is recalled that soon after the elections last year, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said President Akufo-Addo had become a victim of the galamsey fight.
“President Akufo-Addo has himself been a victim of this fight against galamsey. The reality is that there are so many people internally and externally involved in this galamsey who end up fighting any president who desires to do a good job at it.”
Touching on the recent move to end the menace, Dominic Nitiwul stated that all the seized galamsey equipment will be destroyed on site by the military officers deployed to the galamsey areas.
He said no gadget will be returned to Accra.
“We are not seizing any equipment, no equipment will be returned home, they will all be destroyed on site. No excavator, nothing will come back home,” he said.
About 200 officers of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) on Wednesday morning began an operation to forcefully remove all persons and logistics involved in illegal mining on the country’s river bodies.h
The exercise began on River Pra in the Western and Central regions.
This, according to the Minister of Information, is in furtherance of the resolutions of the final communique issued after the two-day Stakeholder Dialogue on Small Scale Mining.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, April 28, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the move is “to ensure that mining within water bodies is immediately stopped”.
He further indicated that the Ministry of Defence and GAF will provide a detailed brief on the developments and the sustainability efforts on Friday, April 30.
Mr Dominic Nitiwul who is also lawmaker for Bimbila said nobody should attempt to go back to the galamsey areas after the swoop by the men in uniform.
“When they sweep pass the place there will be constant monitoring of what has been done by Ghana Armed Forces and so don’t think you will go back,” he said.
Source:3news.com|Ghana
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