‘No Need For Wholesale Small Scale Mining Ban’

The Co-Chair of Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), Dr. Steve Manteaw, has said calls for an outright ban of small-scale mining in the country as a means to control the illegal mining (galamsey) menace can affect revenue streams for national development.

Dr. Manteaw stated this yesterday in Sunyani when he addressed stakeholders deliberating on findings and recommendations of 2021/ 2022 annual GHEITI report in the management and use of the country’s mineral resources including gold, oil and gas.

Addressing various stakeholders including District and Municipal Assembly officials (DCEs and their finance officers), officials from the Ministry of Finance, small-scale miners, the Minerals Commission, Ghana Gas, Administrator of Stool Lands, NGOs, chiefs, journalists and others,  Dr. Manteaw rather called on President Akufo-Addo to show political will by declaring a disclaimer to allow security agencies to arrest and prosecute persons who perpetrate the illegal act, to serve as a deterrent to others.

Dr. Manteaw praised the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, for taking the bold step to destool three chiefs in his kingdom who indulged in galamsey.

“I, however, expected state security apparatus and prosecuting agencies like the police and the Attorney General’s Department to follow up on Otumfuo’s action, arrest the destooled chiefs, put them before court, and prosecute them. If found guilty they should be jailed to serve as a deterrent to others,” he pointed out.

He bemoaned the practice whereby political actors clothed with power to protect the country’s resources rather than engaged in illegalities.

“Over the period in the mining and forestry sector, illegality rather increased with a vested interest.

“Those who have the power to stop it are themselves in it. Where there is evidence that DCEs and ministers are engaged in illegal mining, they should be used as examples,” he stressed.

According to him, to stop the canker, small-scale miners who operate with licences but fail to adhere to mining rules and regulations must be arrested, sanctioned and their licences revoked or not renewed when it is time for renewal.

In a presentation, Fadil Iddi, an Assistant Economic Officer at GHEITI, disclosed that aggregated output of gold production (small and large scale) rose from 2.820 million ounces in 2021 to 3.735 million ounces in 2022, emphasising growth in production was due to concurrent growth in output of both small scale artisanal mining and large scale producers.

Gold revenue also increased from over $4m to over $5m within the same period.

The workshop, which was to disseminate findings and recommendations of the revenue use and management of mineral sectors of the economy to ensure transparency and participation by citizens, was chaired by acting President of the Sunyani Traditional Council, Nana Kwaku Sarbeng II, who is also the Akwamuhene.