Deputy National Director of environmental advocacy group AROCHA Ghana, Daryl Bosu, has expressed strong disapproval of recent calls to suspend anti-illegal mining operations, describing them as a dangerous signal that threatens national efforts to combat environmental degradation.
His comments follow a statement by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Organiser, Joseph Yamin, who last week called on President John Dramani Mahama to halt all anti-illegal mining operations, citing alleged extortion and misconduct by some task forces.
Yamin made this appeal at Bonteso in the Amansei West District of the Ashanti Region on Thursday, August 21, following a misunderstanding between some community members and the Inspector-General of Police’s task force.
According to him, the Military and the Police must take the lead role in effectively combating illegal mining. However, he claimed that some of the task forces are taking advantage of the exercise to enrich themselves instead of addressing the core issues.
But Mr Bosu in an interview on Citi Eyewitness News on Monday August 25 warned that any move to suspend operations would undermine years of progress in tackling illegal mining, also known as galamsey, and embolden those who profit from the destruction of Ghana’s forests and water bodies.
He emphasised that rather than halting the campaign, government must address internal lapses and ensure coordination and professionalism within anti-mining task forces.
“It is, for me, a call for the government to put their house in order,” he said. “They cannot win this fight if the frontlines are divided amongst itself and there is this kind of confusion. So for me, like I said, it is not a good message — a progressive message — coming to say let’s suspend operations on illegal mining.”
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