Sign posts, banners mounted at KIA on dangers of illegal mining
The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has mounted sign posts and hoisted banners at the Kotoka International Airport to educate foreigners on the unlawfulness of indulging in small-scale mining locally.
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The signs are in different languages, including Chinese, French and English, and have been mounted at vantage points, including the arrivals, departures and domestic waiting areas.
“Please take note that under the Ghanaian Law, persons who are not citizens of Ghana are not allowed to carry out small-scale mining. No mining activity is permissible without a licence issued by the Minister of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources,” it said.
It said perpetrators would be prosecuted, fined and imprisoned.
The initiative is aimed at educating and sensitising foreigners on arrival to Ghana to the Minerals and Mining Law, Act 703 of 2006 and its related punishment as part of government intervention measure to stop illegal mining and galamsey.
Unveiling the signage in Accra yesterday, the sector Minister, Nii Osah Mills, said the exercise had been necessitated by the fact that some foreigners gave the excuse of being lured into illegal mining because they could not read and understand the mining law which was written only in English.
“In the bid to clamp down on illegal mining activities, the government rolled out some initiatives including reserving small-scale mining activities for only Ghanaians. It is no more a secret that non-Ghanaians are still involved in small-scale mining (galamsey)” Nii Osah said.
The government also constituted the presidential taskforce to flush out galamsey activities.
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He said although the intervention measures made a lot of impact, including the arrest and deportation of foreigners for indulging in illegal mining, it still continued.
Mining employs about 28,000 people in large scale-mining and one million in the small-scale mining sector.
Nii Osah, therefore, called on all stakeholders, including traditional authorities, opinion leaders, and the media to help in the fight against illegal mining and galamsey.
He expressed gratitude to the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana for helping to translate the law into Chinese, the management of KIA for permitting the signs to be mounted and the Ghana Chamber of Mines for funding the initiative.
Effects of illegal mining activities and galamsey include environmental degradation, digging of pits that are left uncovered which become death traps and the use of toxins such as mercury in the extraction of gold that breaks down the nervous system in human beings.
Others include the pollution of natural water bodies such as the Pra , Densu, Offin and Black Volta
Writer’s email Doreen.andoh@graphic.com.gh