Former Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, George Mireku Duker has outlined some challenges regarding the fight against illegal mining, locally called “galamsey”.
Illegal mining activities have for over decades been the bane of Ghana’s economy, destroying water bodies and causing harmful environmental pollution.
Contributing to Peace FM’s Thursday edition of “Kokrokoo” show, George Mireku Duker noted that the illegal miners are ready to lose their lives.
He cited an incident in South Africa where a pregnant woman was willing to engage in a shootout with law enforcement officials.
“These people are ready to die at any point in time. If you handling themand you don’t do it well, it will bring about a serious situation”, he said.
Taking a cue from this incident, Mireku Duker advised government to thoroughly engage the residents in the mining communities as well as the miners to discourage them from perpetuating their acts.
“You need to be very tactful, engage the community, make sure you use the tracking methods to track the excavators. You make sure you provide some sort of space for them to work by creating the community mining concept”, he asserted.
