Members of the Small Scale Miners Association of Ghana have
expressed disgust at what they call extortionist tactics by members of the
anti-galamsey task force -- who storm mining sites only to line their pockets
and not fight illegal mining.
“All the officers doing this thing have become rich now. Some
of them now own the excavators and people are mining for them,” said one
enraged miner at a public-private sector dialogue on artisanal and small scale
mining in Accra that was organised by the African Centre for Economic
Transformation (ACET).
“Since the task force’s inception about three years ago, what
miners have realised is that not only has it created an economic activity for
the so-called task force, but also encouraged a lot of illegal activities. Most
of these task force people are now equipment owners through the confiscation
programme and driving away of foreigners,” said a miner -- who executive members
of the association asked the media to protect for fear of victimisation.
“Even though they are no longer active in the system, a lot of
them are still visiting small scale mining sites just for the purpose of
extorting monies and not to uphold any laws; and this has been creating a lot
of problems for those of us who are trying to do the right thing,” said a
visibly distraught miner.
“A typical example is that, last week, I was on my way to
Accra when I had a call from my site that the police had visited. The District
Police Commander is aware of us and everybody there is aware of us, but they
still come.
Each time they come you have to give them money, and the days you
do not give them money are the days they tend to see your faults. On this
particular day we were just fed up, and said we wouldn’t give them any more
money because we are not operating illegally.
They just took the keys of our
equipment and left just because they did not get what they wanted. I had to threaten that I would expose them before
they brought the keys back to us.”
On May 13, 2013, President Mahama inaugurated an inter-ministerial
task force that was to among other responsibilities confiscate the equipment of
illegal miners, arrest and prosecute both Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian illegal
miners, and to deport the non-Ghanaians.
The task force was also to revoke the licences of Ghanaians,
who by law have exclusive right to small scale mining, which had sub-leased
their concessions to foreigners.
Miners, in the main, argue however that the task force has failed
to make good its mandate: they have been calling for the release of a report
that is supposed to have been prepared by the task force on its activities.
“Now you just ask if there is a report from the task force as
to what they have been able to do so far and in which areas. You go back and
you see some of these foreigners still working. I am telling you that the
Chinese are even more now than those who were operating previously,” an
executive member of the association told the B&FT.
“Over the period, what we realised is that most of the
security personnel were only amassing wealth instead of concentrating on the
core mandate of flushing out illegal miners. When the illegal miners pay their way through
they are left alone,” he said.
“Now we have security officers who own excavators that work
for them. You can go to Amansie, the Western Region and Ashanti region. It’s
common knowledge among the people.”
The small
scale mining sector has become a difficult sector to manage by government.
While the sector’s contribution to gold production has seen a major increase
over the years (one out of every three ounces of gold produced is from the
sector, according to the Minerals Commission), the environmental destruction it
is leaving in its wake has alarmed a lot of people.
Source:B&FT
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