Media Relations Officer at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Paa Kwesi Schandorf, has stated that despite the government’s commitment to the fight against illegal mining, the menace cannot be eradicated in nine months.
According to him, the threat, which had deepened over the last eight years, will require some more time to be fixed.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews, he stated that the government understands the sentiments of Ghanaians concerning galamsey but indicated that more time will be needed to fix it.
“We understand the impatience of Ghanaians. Seeing the devastated portions of land, the polluted water bodies, and all of that, it is logically understandable that their demands are repeated and insistent.”
But the truth of the matter is that a menace that had deepened over the last eight years, with the greatest of respect and not to sound dismissive or condescending, cannot be automatically undone within nine months,” he said.
The comments by the spokesperson for the Lands Ministry come in the wake of calls by critics for the government to show more commitment to fighting illegal mining in the country.
In a latest development, convenor of FixTheCountry, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has announced that the movement will hold a vigil on Sunday, September 21, at Revolution Square in Accra, to protest the ongoing environmental destruction caused by illegal mining (galamsey).
He disclosed the plan in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, September 15, stressing the urgent need for collective action to protect Ghana’s environment.
In his post, Barker-Vormawor framed the fight against galamsey as a moral and spiritual obligation. “The responsibility to protect and preserve the environment is by divine assignment, ours as a people,” he wrote, adding that the issue transcends electoral politics.
“Our responsibility to end galamsey does not end at elections. Nor does it begin after our party loses one. This is bigger than petty politics,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the government insists that it is committed to fighting the menace through viable policy interventions.