Samuel Abu Jinapor, the minister of lands and natural resources, has revealed that the government is about to make public some significant measures it is implementing to combat galamsey, or unlawful mining.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on Tuesday, October 8, on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM, Mr. Jinapor stated that the government’s meeting with Organized Labour regarding its planned October 10 strike was “very productive and fruitful” and that the first step in containing the threat would be to repeal LI 2462, the law that currently allows mining in forest reserves.
“Consensus was reached that the government will take steps to repeal LI 2462 when Parliament resumed and also ensure the expeditious trial of offenders. Be it as it may, the government took notice of the announcement [of Organised Labour] that went on yesterday [Monday] but there are some other interventions that we are working on and they will be made known in the coming days. River guards and the navy will be patrolling our river bodies, with other interventions.”
The minister added that agriculture, not mining, is the primary cause of deforestation; however, the government is committed to combating the galamsey threat, so it should not be interpreted as having started a few weeks ago due to pressure from Organized Labour.
“The number one driver of deforestation is agriculture and that is not to suggest mining does not do the same. Mining on river bodies is banned and they are red zones mining is not permitted 100 meters away from our waterbodies and we are even planning to make it 200 meters small-scale mining is also not permitted in forest areas
“The impression should never be created that we are just waking up to take action against this menace. Operation Halt has been happening almost every fortnight and we are going to intensify that.”
