‘We’re Dismayed’ – Small Scale Miners tells Gov’t

Small-scale miners in the country have expressed shocked and disappointment in government for what they term as failure to lift the ban on small-scale mining in the country.

Though not clear on a specific time for the rescission, the Chairman for IMCIM, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, said the much-awaited plan will come to fusion after government has properly meted plans and strategies intended to end illegal mining.

Government, in January 2017, announced a ban on small-scale mining due to the extent of damage it has done to Ghana’s forests, water bodies and farmlands.

Speaking at press conference held in Accra, yesterday, to outdoor the Road Map towards the lifting of the ban on Artisanal and Small-scale mining, Prof. Boateng said the withdrawal of the ban may be met with mixed reactions by the Ghanaian populace.

“There will be many who will say that the water bodies are still polluted and so the ban must be maintained. On the other hand, there will be those who will argue that hundreds if not millions of Ghanaians whose incomes are related to small-scale mining are under extreme pressure that they can no longer cope with the sustained ban,” he admitted.

However, after over a year-and-a-half of the imposition, the committee, on Thursday, 16 August 2018 presented a road-map for the lifting of the ban without stating the exact date for the announcement.

This has left the miners angry and they have accused government of acting in bad faith.

General Secretary for the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners, Godwin Amarh, who expressed his disappointment, told TV3 that, the ban has affected them and their dependents negatively, and want an immediate reversal of government’s stance.