The Ministry of Land and Natural Resources has described as absolute falsehood claims by Member of Parliament for Tamale Central that it has spent GH¢10 million on conferences and dialogues in the fight against galamsey.
The allegation, the Ministry said, is without a factual basis.
Hon. Alhassan Suhuyini Sayeb during an interview on the 2022 SONA accused the Ministry of spending a colossal amount of GH¢10 million to just hold conferences and organize tours and campaigns on galamsey without providing a detailed account of the expenditure.
He expressed worry that despite this huge expenditure, the fight against galamsey has not even seen a significant impact.
A statement by the Ministry responding to the allegation indicated that the cost of all the programmes and policies being implemented in the fight against the galamsey scourge is part of its expenditure.
It assured that at the appropriate time, the state agencies charged with auditing the accounts of the Ministry will do their work as mandated by law, and take the appropriate actions if any wrongdoing is detected.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo after the State of the Nation Address (SONA) last year called for a national dialogue on illegal mining threatening Ghana’s water bodies and environment and directed the necessary measures be taken to fight the canker.
Pursuant to this directive, a two-day national consultative dialogue on small scale mining was organized at the Accra International Conference Centre on 14th and 15th April, 2021 that brought together stakeholders from across the country to agree on a common non-partisan approach to fight this menace.
According to the Ministry, the Dialogue resulted in a fifteen-point resolution, including the need to hold similar dialogues in all 16 regions of the country.
“As a way of prudently managing the public purse, the Ministry adopted a strategy to bring together the regions and hold the dialogues on a zonal basis. Accordingly, two regional dialogues were held in Kumasi for the forest zone and Tamale for the savannah zone.”
“In addition to the Dialogues, the Ministry undertook a working visit to all the 16 regions of our country, where we engaged various stakeholders to solicit their support to fight illegal mining. Among the stakeholders engaged include: The Council of State; The National House of Chiefs; The Regional Houses of Chiefs of all 16 regions; Regional Ministers of all 16 regions; The Regional Security Councils of all 16 regions; The Ghana Chamber of Mines; The Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners (GNASSM); Civil Society Organisations in the mining sector; and Miners in the field,” the statement said.
These meetings, it said, were fully funded by the Ministry, which also provided some funding to the Regional Security Councils to assist in the fight against galamsey.
According to the Ministry, to ensure it is able to quickly act on reports of illegal mining, a Monitoring and Evaluation Team was set up together with a Situation Room, to receive reports of illegal mining and act swiftly on them.
“A National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme (NAELP) was also launched as part of strategies to deal with illegal mining to ensure those affected by the clampdown on illegal mining are given alternative sources of livelihood.”
“The Ministry also, in partnership with the Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners (GNASSM), introduced a Small Scale Miners Award Scheme, to reward and encourage responsible and environmentally-sound small scale mining.”
It assured that the cost of the many programmes and policies being implemented by the Ministry, including the revamping of the Community Mining Schemes, the establishment of Small Scale Mining Committees in the various mining districts of our country, the resourcing the Minerals Commission, and the introduction of the mercury-free gold Katcha, form part of the Ministry’s expenditure on the fight against illegal scale mining.
The Ministry noted that the state agencies charged with auditing the accounts of the Ministry will, at the appropriate time, do their work as mandated by law if any wrongdoing is detected.