Movement for Change action plan to end galamsey
Movement for Change, a political party, has reiterated its 10-point action plan to end the galamsey menace, including banning all small-scale and artisanal mining activities, whether legal or illegal, for a period of one year.
“By an Executive Instrument, ban all small-scale and artisanal mining activities, whether legal or illegal, with immediate effect, for a substantive period of one year,” it said
Revocation
A statement issued and signed by the Director of Communications and Spokesperson of the party, Solomon Owusu, called on Parliament to suspend, under a Certificate of Urgency, the application of Legislative Instrument (LI) 2462 to stop permits that allow mining in forest reserves in Ghana.
It further proposed the revocation of all small-scale and community mining licenses issued by the Minerals Commission within the last 15 years.
This is to be followed by a comprehensive and complete audit of all small-scale and community mining licenses issued within the said period.
"A task force made up of representatives of the Goldbod, Environmental Protection Agency, Water Resources Commission and Minerals Commission, with appropriate technical support, shall oversee the audit," the statement said.
Forest regeneration
The party suggested the demobilisation of all machinery, equipment, including earth-moving equipment, and any other form of machinery currently in use on all existing small-scale and community mining land sites.
"The equipment will be inventorised, stored and preserved by the 48 Engineer’s Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces.
The statement urged the government to establish a fund and a comprehensive programme for the restoration and regeneration of all degraded land sites within a one-year period of the ban on small-scale mining activities.
"The programme would be led and supervised by the Forestry Commission, with technical oversight by the Forestry Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)," it said.
River bodies
It also called for new legislation and regulations in Parliament that would impose a complete ban on mining in river bodies and forest reserves, even when the ban on small-scale mining is lifted.
The sanctions regime associated with this new legislation will include life imprisonment for violation of the provisions of the said legislation.
The proposal called for the establishment of a Citizens Mining Protection Rights Group in each mining community, which would act as watchdogs for responsible mining.
