PRESIDENT and Chairman of Groupe Nduom (GN), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, has described activities of illegal mining as ‘wicked’ and has therefore kicked against its legalisation.
Dr. Nduom’s statement comes on the heels of a call by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tarkwa-Nsuaem constituency in the Western Region, Hon. George Mireku Duker, for illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, to be legalised in the country.
In the estimation of the Tarkwa-Nsuaem lawmaker, which story was published on the front page of the Tuesday, February 28, 2017 edition of Today, legalising galamsey will create more jobs for the youth in the wake of the high unemployment in the country.
However, that call has generated loads of mixed reactions from some prominent Ghanaians including Dr. Nduom.
According to Dr. Nduom, it is an “irresponsible” call for galamsey to be legalised.
The GN president reacted to the Tarkwa-Nsuaem MP in a post on his Facebook wall last Tuesday
According to him, “Galamsey is bad for our forests, water bodies, human bodies, mind and soul.”
“Rather than this irresponsible call for legalising galamsey, Ghanaian small scale miners must be organised, trained, registered, confined to safe grounds and monitored with disciplined force to ensure they do not continue wreaking havoc to our existence,” he proposed.
Dr. Nduom also called for “foreigners engaging in and supporting galamsey to be “deported.”
For this to be successful, he urged all and sundry to join hands to save this part of the earth called Ghana.
Similarly, speaking on the matter in an exclusive interview with Today, Head of Communications at Ghana Minerals Commission, Mr. Isaac Abraham, disagreed with Hon. Duker on his call for galamsey to be permitted.
“We cannot legalise illegalities because the negative effects of galamsey activities of the illegal miners deprive the country of land for agriculture,” he stressed.
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