One of the carterpillars used in the galamsey operations
The Inter-Ministerial Task Force on Illegal Mining has seized a total of 24 excavators and other equipment from illegal miners also known as “galamseyers”, operating in the virgin forest at Debiso, in the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central Region.
The task force during their two-day operations in the forest reserve arrested 13 Chinese including a female and their Ghanaian counterpart whose name was given only as Eben.
Nearly 24,000 acres of land including farms have been destroyed by the activities of these illegal miners.
The Head of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining Task Force, Mr Francis Assibi Abu, disclosed this to reporters here on Friday, saying that, the Chinese nationals had been handed over to the Ghana Immigration Service for further investigations while Eben was on police inquiry bail.
These came to light after personnel of the task force took reporters on a guided tour of the forest reserve to enable them to get an insight into the extent of damage caused to both forest and water bodies in the area.
He said the seized excavators and other mining equipment were being evacuated to Accra by the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce for the necessary decision to be taken.
Asked if the nation was making any headway in the fight against illegal mining popularly known as galamsey in the country, Mr Abu replied in the affirmative, saying “as a task force we are winning the fight and very soon the galamsey would be a thing of the past.”
He said the Inter-Ministerial Task Force would continue with its operations until “galamseyers” were flushed out of the system.
The head of the task force commended affected communities of illegal mining for volunteering information about the activities of these illegal miners most of whom carried out their activities late in the night .
Mr Abu urged the media to assist the task force in its bid to nib in the bud the ‘galamsey’ menace, adding that the task force only recognised small scale miners who had been certified and given the requisite mining permits to operate.
Although government has placed a ban on illegal mining, some people are doing it at the blind side of the Taskforce.
Meanwhile, government has rolled out interventions to provide means of livelihood to persons who are affected by the ban.
Furthermore the government has rolled out a project to build the capacities of small scale miners to operate under a safe and responsible mining environment.
FROM: PETER GBAMBILA, DEBISO.
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