Journalists Network advocates aggressive approach to tackling illegal mining

The Ghana Journalists Network on Mining Oil and Gas (GJNMOG), a media advocacy network, has advocated aggressive approach towards tackling illegal mining.

According to the network, a subsidiary of the Global Media Foundation (GLOMeF), media advocacy and human rights, an NGO, successive governments and politicians had failed in the fight against the menace.

The fight, therefore, requires active collaboration between the media, judiciary, civil society, security and law enforcement agencies, and the traditional authorities to stem the operations of the illegal miners and to save our river and water bodies.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani on Thursday, Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Chairman of the Network, stressed as independent institutions, the media, security and law enforcement agencies, chiefs and queens as well as civil society organisations and actors had huge roles to play in tackling societal ills.

"The nation cannot continue to over-rely on governments and politicians in the fight against this menace. It seems they are failing us in tackling this national challenge and we must step up advocacy efforts to bring the situation under control," he said.

Mr Ahenu, also the Chief Executive Officer of the GLOMeF, identified partisan politics as a major factor impeding the fight against the illegal mining activities.

He called for concerted and decisive approaches among all Ghanaians towards tackling the illegal mining menace, destroying the country's river bodies and forest resources.