I will shoot galamseyers if I have power – First Deputy Speaker insists

The first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Joseph Osei Owusu, has insisted on shooting illegal miners  ‘galamseyers’, if the country wants to effectively deal with the illegal mining menace.

He said if he has the power of shooting the illegal miners, he would have done that long time to save the environment from further destruction.

The anti-galamsey task force, Operation Vanguard, recently expressed unhappiness about what it said was the courts leniency in dealing with illegal miners brought before them.

According to the Commander of the task force, Colonel Michael Amoah Ayisi, if the situation lingers, illegal miners and their financiers will be motivated to act with impunity.

The task force since its composition last year has arrested some 983 illegal miners, violating the government’s ban on small-scale mining. Twelve Chinese and four Burkinabes are among those arrested by the eight-month-old operation.

Speaking in an interview with Otec News on Thursday February 1, 2018, Hon. Osei Owusu prescribed that the only viable way to clamp down on the menace is to be ruthless.

He said if his earlier warning of shooting them had been heard, things would not have reached that way, where people are still engaging in the act, despite Operation Vanguard arrest.

“I still stand on my earlier statement that those caught in the illegal mining should be shot to end the menace. If I have power, I would have shot them long ago. I don’t subscribe to the idea that they (galamseyers) should be arrested and prosecuted to end the menace. They are arrested, sent to court but at the end of the day, they are released, is that the way to save our environment?” he quizzed.

Source: otecfmghana.com/Francis Appiah