Galamsey fight: Govt, labour meeting fruitful – Information Minister

The ad hoc ministerial committee set up by the President to address illegal mining in the country has assured members of the public that a lasting solution will be found to tackle the challenge head-on.

This followed a crunch meeting with Organised Labour on Tuesday, which the Minister of Information, Fatima Abubakar, described as “very fruitful and encouraging.”

The almost three-hour meeting was attended by the Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, who leads the committee; Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel A. Jinapor; Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul; Employment, Labour Relations and Pensions Minister; Ignatius Baffour Awuah, and the Information Minister.

Although the meeting was held behind closed doors, a highly placed source revealed that representatives of Organised Labour reiterated previous demands to tackle the galamsey menace, which included a ban on all forms of small-scale mining, declaration of a state of emergency, and reforms to some mining laws.

“The Ministers of National Security, Lands and Natural Resources, as well as Defence, took turns to provide updates on the current situation on the galamsey fight and some measures by the government; and we hope that a united position will be reached on the way forward soon,” the source said.

The source added that a compelling case was made for the government and other stakeholders to work together as partners to help address the galamsey scourge.

Fruitful meeting

When reporters spoke to the Information Minister for details of the discussions at the meeting, she said once the engagements were still ongoing, she did not want to jump the gun by putting out every bit of the discussion.

However, Ms Abubakar said the ad hoc committee and representatives of Organised Labour had frank engagements devoid of uncompromising positions.

She added that the meeting was a good platform for labour to table its concerns for fruitful discussions in the national interest.

“Sitting for over two-and-a-half hours, representatives of Organised Labour have been able to state their position well, and what we, from the government, said is that they should give us one week to complete consultations with the other groups so that we can harmonise the concerns.

“The issue is that you can be demanding one thing and the other groups will be demanding another thing; but if they are mutually exclusive, you cannot implement them at the same time,” she said.

The information minister added that at the next meeting next week, there were likely to be some concessions on certain demands and re-looking others “so that we can all forge ahead in the national interest.”

Enforcement

Ms Abubakar said while the engagements with other stakeholders were ongoing, the various regional ministers were obliged to lead the charge to conduct intelligence-based swoops to make arrests and clear illegal miners from the rivers and forest reserves.

She said the government would not renege on its responsibility to protect the country’s natural resources for posterity, for which reason the appropriate action would be taken in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders to stem the tides.

While the meetings were in session, the Daily Graphic saw footage of some actions on the ground which have led to the clamping down of some alluvial miners in some river bodies and the destruction of their equipment.

A team of security personnel and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) were seen in the footage destroying the equipment and flushing out the illegal activities, an apparent follow-through of the recent charge the government gave Regional Ministers.

Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), Abraham Koomson, who was part of the meeting, told the Daily Graphic that although the meeting was successful, it was left for the government to back its commitment with prompt action to deal with the galamsey menace.

“Organised Labour had initially said it would not attend any meeting with the ad hoc ministerial committee, but we decided to show up out of courtesy. We stated our position clearly and the government side asked for a week to look at the issues,” he confirmed the Information Minister’s position.

“We hope that they will be committed to take action to save the country from this existential threat,” Mr Koomson said.

Background

Following the resurgence of galamsey and calls by many stakeholders for the President to declare a state of emergency and also ban small-scale mining, the five-member ad hoc committee was set up to engage all stakeholders to assess the government’s efforts in dealing with the menace.

The committee’s mandate is to engage with key stakeholders, including local communities, traditional rulers and industry experts and assess the effectiveness of current government measures aimed at curbing illegal mining.

The move signals the government’s renewed commitment to finding a more robust solution to the galamsey menace, which has had devastating effects on Ghana’s environment and natural resources.

“The creation of this ministerial committee is part of the government’s ongoing efforts to tackle the galamsey issue head-on, ensuring that sustainable and effective measures are in place,” a statement announcing the setting up of the committee last week said.