A senior research fellow at the Center for Democratic Development (CDD), Dr. Kojo Asante, has urged government to treat the canker of illegal mining with the scale and urgency it did with Ebola.<\/p>\n
Dr. Asante warned that illegal mining is now a \u201cnational crisis\u201d and asserted that, \u201cwe cannot do the same things we were doing before\u2026 we have to raise the stakes for all political leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”7f4fUpewuKq60IwFtJeXk1aHPIp4IU9G”]His remarks follow renewed concerns over the destruction and pollution of major river bodies including the River Tano, which serves the Ghana water treatment plant at Abesim near Sunyani by illegal mining.<\/p>\n
September has also seen the shutdown of the Kyebi and Daboase water treatment plants due to the effects of illegal mining.<\/p>\n
Varying approaches have been used to combat illegal mining with the use of force by security agencies being the main option.<\/p>\n
But Dr. Asante expressed some pessimism with any legal measures that would be instituted to combat illegal mining.<\/p>\n
According to him, \u201cIt is very difficult to come up with any kind of legal regime because the communities amidst the gold belt run the length and breadth of this county so you are going to take on the whole \u00a0of Ghana in many instances and that is not likely to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Asante\u00a0added that, \u201cOnce you go to the community, sometimes the security themselves are at risks and they cannot enforce the law so that is at the core of the problem and if that is not resolved there is no way galamsey is going to end.\u201d<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Delali Adogla-Bessa\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A senior research fellow at the Center for Democratic Development (CDD), Dr. Kojo Asante, has urged government to treat the canker of illegal mining with the scale and urgency it did with Ebola. Dr. Asante warned that illegal mining is now a \u201cnational crisis\u201d and asserted that, \u201cwe cannot do the same things we were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":246176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n