President Akufo-Addo outdoors NAELP for illegal miners
The president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Monday, October 25, launched the National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme (NAELP) at Tarkwa, a major mining destination in the Western Region of Ghana to support displaced illegal miners.
The programme is to ensure that illegal miners (galamseyers) who were displaced through the government’s Operation Halt II, would have basic necessities of life, and prevent them from going back to the illegal mining activities, commonly known as galamsey.
NAELP is founded on the theme, “Creating Alternative jobs to illegal Mining for Sustainable National Development,” is expected to create about 200,000 direct and indirect jobs in the mining communities across the country.
Speaking at the launch of the programme, the president said, it was aimed at ameliorating the unintended and unavoidable hardships of Operation Halt II activities.
Noting that the small-scale mining contributes up to 40% of the country’s gold exports, the president said, the government would “do all it takes to promote it for the collective benefit of Ghanaians.”
He announced that his promise to implement a Community Mining Scheme has been fulfilled as he commissioned the Akoon Community Mining Scheme, the very first scheme under the NAELP programme.
He declared that the Akoon Mining Scheme is expected to create some 220,000 direct and indirect employment, to Ghanaians particlularly, small-scale miners.
However, the President Akufo-Addo warned that those illegal miners who operate under the cover of darkness would soon be flashed out, emphasising that the government would not condone any illegality in the mining sector.
He underscored that his government was not against small-scale mining, rather, frowns upon galamsey, that has negative methods that some foreigners in connivance with Ghanaians have employed and are impacting destructively on the environment.
For his part, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor said the Community Mining Scheme, which would be created under the programme would not be run as a galamsey site.
The minister indicated that community mining has become the main fulcrum around which his outfit seeks to organise responsible small-scale mining to benefit host communities and the country at large.
He added that so far, five community mining schemes with 20 concessions have been launched, which has the capacity to employ about 26,300 people in direct and indirect jobs.
Mr Jinapor disclosed that his Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is expecting to launch a total of 18 Schemes with 100 concessions, by the end of the year, and indicated the Ministry’s commitment to ensuring a well regulated, responsible, environmentally sound community mining schemes across the country.
About NAELP
The National Alternative Employment and Livelihood programme would be operated under some modules including the National Land Reclamation and Re-Afforestation, Agriculture and Agro-Processing, Apprenticeship, Skills Training and Entrepreneurship, Mine support Services, Responsible, Viable and sustainable small-scale mining among others.
The programme has been designed to alleviate the hardship associated with the government’s efforts to sanitise the mining sector, while providing decent employment and alternative livelihoods for galamseyers.
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