The Public Relations Officer for Small Scale Miners Association, Abdul Razak has said that curbing illegal mining in the country is a gradual process which needs which must be pursued with the needed attention and commitment.
According to him, there are some who are engaging in the illegal mining solely for the purpose of making money as a way out of poverty but are not mindful of the impact their actions are having on the environment and water bodies, hence approach to stop them must not be done with strategies devoid of brute force.
“Fighting illegal mining should be gradual because some people engaged in these activities are not aware of the harm and destructions they are causing and don’t even know it’s wrong so the process must be slow”.
He indicated that the small scale miners association are partnering with the government in the fight against illegal mining in Ghana but their efforts in recent days, are facing some challenges with government taskforce deployed to curb the menace.
He revealed that they had formed a taskforce to flash out illegal miners along the river sides but the military stopped their team because of the uniforms they were wearing.
He said although the Military agreed that their efforts were to help the fight against illegal mining, “they believe some will use it to engage in committing crime” but added that “we are talking with the National Security Minister to see how our team can work with the government taskforce” he said to Mynewsafric.com.
He indicated that when government started the fight against the illegal mining, they (small scale miners) have to put their activities on hold for some time, reason some of its members are struggling to raise capitals to start operation.
He thus called on government to support then with soft loans through Agriculture Development Bank.
“We have presented government with a proposal for financial assistance through the Agricultural Development Bank which we believe if it goes through, will reduce the pressure from some of our colleagues who are down financially”.
