The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah has asked the chiefs and people in the mining communities to release lands to support government’s community mining initiative which will be rolled out in place the indiscriminate illegal mining currently ongoing in our the country.
The Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah disclosed this in Bogoso when he paid a courtesy call on the Divisional Chief of the Town, Nana Kwesi Sumprey II as part of a 3-day working visit to some part of the region.
According to him, the move will help government to create jobs for communities members whose livelihood depend strongly on mining.
Government as part of efforts to sanitize the mining sector after placing a ban on small scale mining activities and the subsequent lifting of the ban in December 2018 has rolled out various reforms including giving training and licenses to small scale miners to allow them go about the operation under strict supervision.
Many months after the roadmap was announced by the Inter Ministerial Mining Community, the Western Regional Minister Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah hints of government’s plan to introduce Community Mining which will seek to give the right of mining to the various mining communities and not individuals as it used to be. This he explained will cause the entire community to police the activities of irresponsible miners.
“The President is expected to announce and introduce the community mining programme to enable residents in mining communities whose livelihood are solely depended on mining.”
He emphatically stated that, “Only small scale miners who participated in the training section at the Paa Grant University of Mines and Technology in Tarkwa will be permitted to engage in the Community Mining programme.”
The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah is however pleading with Chiefs in the various mining communities to lease lands in support of government’s community mining programme soon to be launched in other to help develop the local economy.
In a sharp response, the Divisional Chief of Bogoso, Nana Kwesi Sumprey II pleaded with government to talk to Golden Star Resources Limited (Prestea-Bogoso Mine) to rather release lands from their concession for the community mining programme since all mining concessions in the district has been seeded to the multinational mining company by the Minerals Commission.
Kojo Ennimil Arthur | Spicefmonline.com | Ghana
