WACAM Calls For Gov’t’s Intervention In Illegal Mining Activities

Associate Executive Director of Wacam, Mrs Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, has stated that the irresponsible mining activities of the multinational mining companies are adversely affecting the water bodies and environment in the gold mining communities in the country.

In this regard, she called on government to take immediate actions to halt irresponsible mining activities of the multinational mining companies in order safeguard water bodies and environment.

“It is wrong to assume that because the large multinational mining companies are regulated, their activities do not destroy the water bodies, forest reserves and farm lands.

“The scale of the “galamsey” menace should be regarded as part of the larger problem of irresponsible mining which has engulfed the nation resulting in the pollution of rivers, destruction of the environment and creating serious social, environmental and economic problems for mining communities in the country,” she noted.

Speaking in interview with Today on the side-line at a workshop for journalists in Accra, Mrs Owusu-Koranteng said “irresponsible mining activities in the country over the past three decades have affected our economic gains”.

She added: “For this reason, the forum seeks to create an opportunity for media personnel and stakeholders to influence the process by ensuring that sanity prevails in the mining sector”.

She blamed government for opening its doors too wide for multinational mining companies to undertake surface mining operations without developing strong laws to regulate their operations.

The result, she said, had been loss of livelihood, displacement of about 100,000 landlords, pollution of many rivers, the exacerbation of poverty in mining communities, destruction of forest reserves among others.

Source: today