Panelists on GBC Sunrise FM’s Current Affairs Programme, ‘Event in Focus’ have welcomed the lifting of the ban on illegal small scale mining popularly known as Galamsey by government.
They have however, tasked the government to enforce all measures put in place to govern galamsey.
One of the panelists, Michael Teye Amartey stated that although Galamsey operation has caused a lot of havoc to the environment, the ban has affected the country negatively since the government did not get tax revenue from that sector of the economy to embark on some of its development projects throughout the period when the ban was in force.
He appealed to government to make sure the law enforcers monitor the activities of the operators who have been licensed to engage in small scale mining to ensure that they stay within the rules and regulations set.
Mr. Amartey added that government should ban alluvia mining and concentrate on the land mining in order not to destroy the country’s water bodies.
For his part, a tutor at the Koforidua Senior High Technical school, Mattew Mawuena Doe observed that rules and regulations as spelt out by the government if well enforced, will help in what he put it, a bit damage control.
Mr. Doe however, pointed out that all the measures, laws, rules and regulations that the government has come out with, will come to naught if Ghanaians don’t change their work attitude and mentality.
He therefore appealed to all and sundry to take issues on the environment seriously to ensure that regulations governing activities of the miners, whether legal or illegal will not be detrimental to the future generation of the country.
