Seized excavators are being used for galamsey – Concerned Small Scale Miners

Concerned Small Scale Miners Union of Ghana says their excavators which were seized during the banning of small-scale mining are being used for illegal mining in some parts of the country.

According to the miners, the 500 excavators which were seized between 2017 and 2018 are not missing as alleged by the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, Professor Frimpong

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President of the group, Richard Kojo Peprah, told the media they know where the missing excavators are.

“We were able to find some of these machines in Tamale. Some of these machines had tracking devices. So we are able to trace them. When they take the machine in the Ashanti region then, they send it to the Northern region. They are engaged in one activity or the other. Some are even engaged in galamsey”.

The Media Coalition against Illegal Mining and Occupy Ghana have demanded for an explanation on the supposed disappearance of the excavators from government.

This was after Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, Professor Frimpong Boateng revealed last week, that most of the seized excavators are missing.

He said, “though the excavators were seized and taken to the district assemblies, the heavy-duty machines disappeared later from the premises of the assemblies”.

But the media coalition and OccupyGhana say the Akufo-Addo authorities have failed to enforce the law.