Galamsey Taskforce should be circumspect – John Boadu

Acting general secretatry of the New Patriotic Party, John Boadu has urged the galamsey taskforce to be careful in dealing with illegal miners in the country as part of the operation vanguard.

According to him, the actions of some of the security personnel in the taskforce is causing a lot of problems on the ground and as a result making people feel differently from the real intention of government in the fight against galamsey.

Mr John Boadu who is with President Akufo-Addo in his 6 day tour to the central and western regions explained that the tour is aimed at gathering feedback on government’s policies including the fight against galamsey.

”We gathered that some military personnel are dealing with the illegal miners with heavy-hands to the extent that some are treated as criminals, paraded on streets, equipment seized and others chased from sites to their homes, a situation which needs to be addressed”.

He noted that, the nature of galamsey in areas like Tarkwa and prestea has no effects on river bodies and forest reserves to warrant such imperious treatment from the taskforce.

”Sometimes some miscreants in the force would want to play politics with the operation and use the opportunity to remind victims of the bad choice of government they made, but we have to be very careful to not politicize the operation”.

Mr John Boadu also noted that if these allegations are not well handled, it could also demoralize the security personnel on the taskforce since they were deployed as part of government’s policy and not on their own.

”I have notified the sector ministers about these allegations of excesses and trust that they will be immediately dealt with to save the government’s face in this operation.”

Source: otecfmghana.com