President John Dramani Mahama has said he will not hesitate to declare a state of emergency on galamsey if he is advised to do so by the national security apparatus.
The President said though he wielded the constitutional power to do so, the action must be based on the advice of the National Security Council.
“As of now, the National Security Council believes that we can win the fight against galamsey without a state of emergency. But the day they advise me otherwise, that we need a state of emergency, I will not hesitate in declaring it,” the President stated.
President Mahama gave this assurance at the Presidency in Accra on Friday during a crunch meeting with Civil Society Organisations.
The meeting was to provide a platform for frank and constructive dialogue between the Government and Civil Society on illegal mining, with the view to harnessing collective expertise, perspectives and solutions to address the menace.
He said the government would not relent in its commitment to ensure the country’s forests and water resources were rid of illegal mining activities, assuring continuous engagement with stakeholders at every step of the way.
According to him, posterity would not forgive the current generation if it failed to nip the situation in the bud after inheriting clean water bodies, rich forest reserves and fertile land from its forebears.
“Our forefathers handed us a beautiful country with forests, trees and rivers. We must hand over the same, not destruction, to our children and grandchildren,” he stressed.
The President said efforts were underway to detoxify the water bodies that had been polluted by illegal miners.
He said there was a pilot project to find a solution to the menace using activated carbon filtration by filtering the water to take out toxins and separate them from the gold.
“Whiles we are fighting the menace, I’m saying that we should uptake technology in order to protect our environment. Let us fight illegal mining but we must at the same time bring in new technology that allows us to protect our environment,” President Mahama advocated.
In a related development, the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operational Secretariat (NAIMOS), the inter-security agency fighting the illegal mining menace, has warned illegal miners to get out of the forests and vacate the water bodies or face their wrath.
Describing illegal miners as “environmental terrorists” who must be treated as such, the team said it would be ruthless in its approach going forward to once and for all end the menace.
“Your Excellency, with your permission, I would like to send this warning to illegal miners, their assigns and financiers, that they are the first of prime enemies of the state and they will be dealt with as such. There will be no room for them to escape or to hide. NAIMOS will smoke them out very soon,” the Director of Operations at NAIMOS, Colonel Dominic Buah, stated.
According to him, as part of the escalated crackdown on illegal miners, the first batch of over 400 troops had been trained and were under deployment to sensitive galamsey areas across the country.
“So all illegal miners, assigns and financiers, beware. NAIMOS is closer to your bases and there will be no hiding place for you,” he warned.
Col Buah said two of nine forest reserves which were taken over by illegal miners had been reclaimed.
He said about 450 excavators, over 1,000 water pumping machines and vehicles had been seized, with 1,400 illegal miners arrested and over 500 chanfans destroyed.
By Julius Yao Petetsi
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