There are gaps in government's ‘galamsey’ fight – Deputy lands minister

Government has not totally failed in ‘galamsey’ fight, Mireku Duker

Ghana's water bodies polluted due to illegal mining , GWCL

Rationing of water caused by ‘galamsey’ , GWCL

Deputy Lands and Natural Resources Minister, George Mireku Duker has said there are gaps in government’s effort to curb the menace of illegal mining in the

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According to him, although government had made significant strides in the fight against illegal small scale mining (‘galamsey’), it's effort had not yielded a 100 percent results.

The deputy minister, who was reported to have made these remarks by myjoyonline.com, said government was still devising measures to help curb ‘galamsey’.

He added that some of the measures included the arrest and prosecution of persons found to be have engaged in illegal mining activities.

“I wouldn’t say the government failed totally [in fighting galamsey], and I wouldn’t also admit that government had 100 percent. However, there were gaps that we have to reposition ourselves to correct.

“There are practical measures we’ve put in place. For example, just recently, some foreign nationals were arrested on one of the river bodies of which I led a security task force to get them arrested. They are being prosecuted, some have been put behind bars,” Mireku Duker was quoted by myjoyonline.com.

The deputy minister made these comments after the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) attributed the rationing of water in some parts of the country to water bodies being polluted due to activities of illegal miners.

“The water situation currently in the country is not very bad except that if we do not work at rectifying the situation as it is now, we may fall into a (water shortage) crisis. But currently, we are treating water,” Communications Manager of the GWCL, Stanley Martey was quoted by myjoyonline.com.