Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Minority leader, has once again insisted that the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) is encouraging activities of illegal mining commonly known as galamsey.
The minority leader raised concerns about the structure of GoldBod, stressing that the current system does not sufficiently distinguish legally mined gold from gold linked to galamsey.
Afenyo-Markin queried the regulatory framework governing GoldBod and gold aggregators, raising an alarm that the absence of clear distinctions could create incentives for galamsey.
Speaking during an engagement with the Christian Council, Afenyo-Markin stated, “The way GoldBod has been structured, it is rather encouraging the illegal mining activities we have in our country. Because you see, currently GoldBod does not have a regulation that draws a distinction between regularly mined gold and galamsey gold.
So it is like whatever the aggregators bring, we will buy. But are there some regulations to guide aggregators? Now, everybody is mining. Galamsey has gotten out of hand,” he said.
“If we are not careful, Atewa forest will not be there for us again,” he cautioned.
“I once chaired the Ghana Water Limited Board. The report coming from Ghana Water is that not only is it becoming more expensive to treat the water, but the extent of contamination of our water bodies is such that some treatment plant cannot even function,” he said.
In related news, President John Dramani Mahama has rejected claims that he promised to declare a state of emergency as part of efforts to tackle illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.
Speaking at a town hall meeting with members of the Ghanaian community in the Tri-State Area of the United States on Friday, September 25, Mahama said in opposition he had never said he would invoke a state of emergency to deal with the illegal mining menace.
According to the President, a state of emergency must only be considered as a last resort in addressing the galamsey crisis.
Mahama argued that declaring a state of emergency would not be practical at this stage because illegal mining activities are occurring across 10 regions of Ghana.
He argued that his government’s approach to tackling illegal mining takes into account the widespread nature of the problem rather than relying immediately on emergency measures.
President Mahama stated, “They said I said a state of emergency. I never ever said that. I never said I’d declare a state of emergency, but states of emergency are useful; you declare them as a last resort.
If you declare a state of emergency, you normally declare it in an isolated area, and you deal with the issue. You concentrate all your energy there and deal with the issue. And you finish it, and you lift the state of emergency. They are very temporary”.
“Now, what people don’t understand is that galamsey is in 10 regions of Ghana. You declare a state of emergency; where are you going to declare the state of emergency?”
He further argued, “ That 48-hour rule doesn’t apply when there’s a state of emergency. And so the point is, we still have that power, but we must exercise it as a last resort”.
“We have forest reserves that have had incursions into them. And so what we’ve done is we’ve concentrated on the forest reserves.
“Nine of those forest reserves were considered red zones because of the degree of incursion into the forest reserves and the fact that those in those forest reserves were armed, and the forest guards could not go into the reserve for fear of their lives. Today, in those nine forest reserves, the army has cleared all the people out of them,” he added.
@ghnow_ Okatakyie Afrifa alleges that the proposed amendment is designed to serve the interests of certain individuals. #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ Okatakyie Afrifa shares his views on the proposal to make the NPP flagbearer the leader of the party when it is in government. #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
