Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament and Member of Parliament for Ellembelle, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has called for a strict adherence to the manual governing the Community Mining Scheme to successfully deal with the devastation caused by illegal mining.
According to him, the policy has great prospects but what pertains currently is “organized galamsey”
The government’s anti-galamsey policies and strategies have come under criticism with many questioning the will to rid the country of the menace.
The Community Mining introduced by the NPP government aims at formalizing illegal small scale mining in selected communities across the country and diverting the interest of the youth from illegal mining to properly regulated mining. However concerns are being raised that it is failing to address its purpose.
The Ellembelle MP took journalists to a galamsey hotspot at Aluku in his constituency on Wednesday morning. The site is hidden deep in a cocoa plantation. Mr. Buah while bemoaning the impact of such activities on Ghana’s cocoa industry, lauded the government’s Community Mining scheme.
He, however, said that it has been turned into “organized galamsey” and its resultant devastation. He is especially concerned as Ellembele is soon to be enrolled unto the scheme. The MP believes it can achieve much if done strictly by its manual.
“It’s a very well thought out direction, basically, a Bible on how to do the right things.
“There will never be any activities in the mining area without a geologist, without all the experts. There will not be any activity without a plan on how to control the flow of water, for example. There will not be (any) occasion where streams will flow and go into other streams and lead them to big rivers like the Ankobra and others. There will be creation of wells where the water can be managed in an area. And when this is done there will be proper reclamation done to restore the environment to its original position(state)“, he said.
Mr. Buah acknowledges that the anti galamsey fight has failed because it has taken on a partisan nature and is urging all stakeholders (communities, assembly members, traditional leaders, DISEC, Minerals Inspectorate Division, EPA, etc) to fight it holistically. He hopes to have a thorough engagement with stakeholders to help ensure that the Scheme is implemented by the manual in his district when introduced so they reap the benefits.
“I am calling for stakeholder meetings with the chiefs, DCE and Assembly Members – it’s not finger pointing, let’s sit down, let’s all come look at the devastation and ask the big questions and say that how do we do this to protect our future and our children? We must because this shame affects all of us”.
“I think this stakeholders meeting is not a political meeting, it’s is not a finger pointing meeting, it’s a meeting for us to engage to find solutions, long term to protect our environment and at the same time empower our people because we’ve had enough of the talk. Meanwhile, the galamsey and devastation has been going on”.