Establish special court to deal with offenders of illegal mining – MP

Chairperson of Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Forestry Hon. Francis Manu – Adabor has suggested for the establishment of a special court to deal with offenders of  illegal mining, popularly known as ‘galamsey’ in the country.

He said time should be allotted for the trial of persons involved in ‘galamsey’ practices to avoid the unnecessary delays in prosecuting ‘galamsey’ cases as a means of fighting menace.

As part of efforts to end ‘galamsey’, the government, in August 2018, deployed four hundred Military and Police joint team as first batch of the Anti-Galamsey Taskforce to enforce the ban on illegal mining.

So far more than four hundred suspected galamsey operators, including Chinese nationals, have been arrested by the National Anti-Galamsey Task Force and put before court.

Hon. Manu Adabor, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ahafo Ano South East constituency in the Ashanti region, speaking in an interview with Otec News, said there should be a separate court that will deal exclusively with illegal mining activities, to speed up the cases.

“I heard in the news that if the task force, deployed to fight against illegal mining, takes about 1000 cases to court, the court can hear 100 of the cases only and the punishment is not draconian to deter others not to do same. I suggest there should be a separate court to deal with cases, and the punishment associated for the offenders should be strong enough to deter others from engaging in ‘galamsey’,” he said.

Hon. Manu Adabor also said there should be a mechanism that will ensure transparent accountability in the gold mining business in the country, as the fight against the ‘galamsey’ goes on.

“If the country still allows illegal mining, the risk for the country will not only be on the destruction of the water bodies and the environment, but also it stand loosing huge gold earnings, because of unavailability of data collection on gold exported by the ‘galamseyers’,” he added.

He added that for the country to win the fight against illegal mining, there should be a national public education on the impact of illegal mining, hence the government will waste time and resources in the fight.

Source: otecfmghana.com/ Kwaku Anane Jnr