President John Dramani Mahama has instructed the anti-galamsey task force not to burn but rather confiscate excavators used in illegal mining (galamsey) within the nation’s forest reserves.
The President said this during a courtesy call on him by Reverend Dr Hilliard Dela Dogbe, the Chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana, at the seat of Government in Accra.
The visit was to congratulate President Mahama on his victory in the December 7, 2024 general election.
The delegation raised the issue of galamsey in their meeting with the President and urged him to do everything within his power to address it.
President Mahama in his response noted that the issue of galamsey was a major headache for all Ghanaians.
He said it was estimated that currently about 1.8 million Ghanaians were involved in small-scale mining and that created a big issue with regard to issues of employment and displacement from small-scale mining.
He said the small-scale mining was legal and the nation’s laws recognised it but it must be done in a responsible and sustainable manner.
The President said there were about 280 forest reserves in the country and the ones, which were affected by galamsey activities were about 43.
He said the anti-galamsey task force did one operation in the Tano Nimri Forest Reserve, which led to the confiscation of some excavators that were used in illegal mining in the Forest Reserve.
He noted that the task force would soon be moving to another Forest Reserve as part of efforts to address the galamsey menace in the country.
“I’ve told them not to burn the excavators, they should confiscate them,” President Mahama said.
He noted that there was a mobile team on the ground to report on any galamsey activities in the nation’s forest reserves, so that the anti-galamsey task force would quickly move in to give reinforcement to the staff of the Forestry Commission to combat the situation.Â
He said the Government would soon organise a conference on the small-scale mining sector.
He said there was a new technology being used in other countries for sustainable small-scale mining.
“Before you start a small-scale mine, you must do what they call a leach dam and then you line it with plastic and then you wash the gold water into that dam,” he said.
“After you finish, and that’s what the big companies do, they have cleaning agents they put in the water and it takes out all the toxins and everything and you can discharge the water back into the environment. So we’ll engage with them and bring some of these new technologies to their attention.”
The President thanked the leadership of the Christian Council of Ghana for the honour done him and his Government in coming not only to congratulate him but to begin a discourse on some of the things that were of interest to them.
He said he had since the inauguration hit the ground running and that as promised he would name his ministers within 14 days of his assumption of office, he had done it.
He said happily, Parliament had fast-tracked the vetting of the appointees and all the ministers were now in place and working.
“We know that a four-year term is a very short period of time and so it is important that we fast-track settling down the Government as quickly as possible, especially in the face of the crisis we face with the economy,” President Mahama said.
“We all know that this country has been going through an economic crisis but you don’t really appreciate the enormity of the crisis until you have taken charge.
“We’re opening the books and some of the things we’re seeing show that things are far worse than the (previous) Government had led us to believe and that’s why we hope that you’ll be participants in the National Economic Dialogue because we want to open the books and show Ghanaians what the real state of the nation is and I believe that we must bring honesty in leadership and tell Ghanaians what the real situation is.”Â
The President said, “He thinks that Ghanaians understand what the situation was and that they were willing to make the sacrifices to make things better for everybody.”
Touching on Mission Hospitals, President Mahama said the Government was not going to come and compete with Churches by building another hospital in areas with Mission Hospitals; declaring that “We’d rather use the resources to improve the Mission Hospital, so that it provides service.”
He said if some of the Missions were interested, the Government could get them to finish the hospital and manage the hospital and provide health services to the people.
He said his door was always opened to the Christian Council of Ghana to come in at any time to discuss issues of national importance.
On his part, Reverend Dr Hilliard Dela Dogbe, the Chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana, pledged the Council’s support to the Government in its efforts to combat illegal mining (galamsey).
He reiterated that the menace of galamsey was very worrying; saying “We want to appeal to you strongly that you should do all within your power to make sure that we see the end of this disaster.”Â
