The Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) has called for the immediate resignation of the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, following his remarks regarding the demands for a declaration of a state of emergency to tackle illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey.
During a media engagement in Accra, Minister Jinapor described the calls for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to declare a state of emergency as “draconian” and warned that such a move would have far-reaching consequences for the country.
However, Kenneth Koomson, Deputy Secretary General of the GFL, expressed dissatisfaction with the minister’s stance, stating that it either reflects a lack of understanding of the gravity of the issues facing the nation or a deliberate attempt to downplay them.
Speaking in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM, Mr. Koomson criticized Jinapor’s comments and questioned his ability to effectively manage the fight against illegal mining.
“The minister clearly appears to be ill-informed and ill-equipped or perhaps, pretending not to understand the gravity and the magnitude of the issues that we have recounted and enumerated. For him to even describe the call for the president to activate Article 31, which is a state of emergency and describe it as draconian is very pathetic and smacks of a deliberate act to destroy the very water bodies that protect and give us life.
“For him to describe this as draconian is quite unfortunate and in fact, the minister must resign for making that statement because he clearly doesn’t really understand the issues and he is not fit to occupy that position with that kind of thinking cap.
“For us to have 2.5 million hectares of our forest reserve decimated by the activities of galamsey means a whole country is wiped by the activities of a few evil men.”
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