We’ll Deal With Illegal Miners Ruthlessly –Buah

Minister-designate for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has warned illegal miners to cease their activities immediately or face severe consequences.

“We will deal with illegal miners ruthlessly,” he cautioned during his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Monday, January 27, 2025.

Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ellembelle, a mining district in the Western Region, outlined a three-pronged approach to address illegal mining. Firstly, the government will empower the Minerals Commission and the Geological Survey Authority to conduct geological surveys and identify mineralized areas.

This will be followed by community engagement, where locals will be grouped into cooperatives to operate the Community Mining Scheme.

He emphasised that this new approach will foster social cohesion and community ownership.

“The Community Mining Scheme has a good name but let me tell you how it was done in my area: It was done by government officials at the local level and engaging the services of a contractor, who will then go to the community, meet the community and is introduced as the contractor who is coming to do community mining. Then the young people in the community will be hired as day labourers – That is not the community mining and engagement we are bringing”, he noted.

He added, “We will ensure that the community is fully involved in the mining process.”Secondly, the government will decentralize the mining licensing regime to fast-track the issuance of mining licenses at the district level.

“Nobody is going to wait for four years to get a valid mining license – they will do illegal mining. We are going to make the process in such a way that it is easier and efficient for them to go through. Ultimately, our focus is to make sure that we deal with people who are engaged in illegal mining ruthlessly because we’ve created a pathway; and we’ve empowered the community to tow the right way”, he revealed.

Thirdly, Mr Buah promised to repeal the Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2462, which grants licenses to companies to mine in forest reserves. This move is aimed at protecting the country’s forest cover and water bodies from degradation.

The former Minister of Energy also appealed for national unity in the fight against illegal mining.

“Illegal mining must be combated. We are going to stand together with the people of Ghana to fight illegal mining. It doesn’t matter your status; it doesn’t matter your political coloration. If you want to do mining, we have the legal processes for getting licenses and doing mining”, he stressed.

We’ll stop the ‘mafia’ in the timber industry

In addition to addressing illegal mining, the former Minister of Energy outlined plans to revamp the timber industry.

The government, he noted, will introduce new species of trees, plant new forests, and stop the “mafia” in the timber industry. “We will give the industry all the necessary support it needs,” he noted.

Meanwhile,the Member of Parliament for Damongo Constituency, and former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor, has charged the John Mahama Government to keep to its promise of banning all forms of mining in forest reserves in the country.

He said there are many people who voted for President John Dramani Mahama based on this promise and the President must keep his part of the bargain by banning all forms of mining in Forest Reserves.

The Legislator made these comments during the vetting of the Minister-designate for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah, on Monday, 27th January, 2024.

In the lead up to the General Elections, there were calls on the Government to ban all forms of mining in the forest reserves of the country.

Samuel Jinapor, the then sector Minister, argued that there were large scale mining companies like Newmont and AngloGold who have been mining responsibly and sustainably in our forest reserves for years, and that a blanket ban on all forms of mining in forest reserves would not be feasible.

According to Mr. Jinapor, apart from the sustainability of the operations of these companies, they employ several Ghanaians and contribute significantly to the national economy.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC), however, joined calls for the ban on all forms of mining in forest reserves and promised to do so if voted into power.

Speaking at a public lecture at the Christian Service University in Kumasi, on 20th June, 2024 President Mahama said “I will ban all mining in forest reserves because I believe that many of the trees in the reserves, which are more than 700 years old, are more precious assets than any mineral that lies beneath them.”

President Mahama repeated this promise at an engagement with the Media in Accra on 7^th July, 2024, when he said “We are going to ban mining in forest reserves. As for that, it is non-negotiable.”

At the vetting of the Minister-designate for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Jinapor asked Mr. Armah-Buah whether the NDC will keep its promise of banning all forms of mining in forest reserves.

Mr. Armah Buah in his answer, however, intimated that large-scale mining companies are not responsible for the destruction of the country’s forest reserves, suggesting that their operations may not be banned.

This prompted the former Minister to remind him that it was a promise made to the people of Ghana to secure their votes, and the President would have to honour that promise.

The Minister-designate also said he was unable to say whether the Government will declare a state of emergency and that if given the nod he will assess the situation to see the next steps to be taken

By Stephen Odoi-Larbi

The post We’ll Deal With Illegal Miners Ruthlessly –Buah appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle.

Read Full Story