As the year ends and a new one is ushered in, the Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has described the government’s implementation of the community mine as a big failure due to the continuous devastation caused by illegal mining activities disguised as community mines.
Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, who made these remarks during a tour of some devastated cocoa farms by illegal mining in Ellembelle as part of his end-of-year engagement with journalists, called for a non-partisan stakeholder discussion on the proper implementation of community mines.
The Deputy Minority Minister, who is also the MP for Ellembelle, expressed concern about the never-ending destruction of water bodies and forest resources in the Ellembelle District by illegal mining. He chose to spend his end-of-year touring some of the illegal small-scale mining sites in the Ellembelle District.
In the Ankagyare area of Aluku in the Ellembelle District, where illegal mining has devastated a cocoa farm, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah said the continuous devastation by galamsey is a result of the non-implementation of the community mines manual.
“If we are not going to implement that beautiful guideline in the manual, let’s stop it; it’s a joke. If we are going to implement the spirit and letter of what has been laid out, we won’t see what we are seeing. And I’m saying that based on what I have seen. And I’ve mentioned the government, led by the president himself, and all the agencies; mining inspectorates, minerals commission, EPA, these institutions have a role here. This represents a failure.”
Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah said he agrees that the youth need jobs and hence called for a non-partisan stakeholder discussion on the appropriate implementation of community mines for the protection of the environment.
“Let all the DCEs, the chiefs, let us all sit down and say, you know what, this is not good. This is not good; it’s not good for our future, it’s not good for our children. We want them to get a job; what’s the solution; let’s find it. Let’s make sure we don’t pollute their cobra because we can’t continue like this.”
