Degraded land due to mining activities
Mr. Aaron Kumah; a senior lecturer at the Appiah Menkah University wants the government of Ghana to stop issuing prospecting licenses to prospective miners in the country.
He believes that is the surest approach to end the land degradation in the country and insists that individuals should not be allowed to do any prospecting henceforth.
“The prospecting license gives room for the destruction of our lands and forest reserves. The mining prospecting license has aided many miners to mine our forests and are causing destruction to the numerous forest reserves in the country”, he lamented.
Speaking on Oyerepa Tv Breakfast Time on Friday, 23rd April 2021. Mr. Kumah implored the government to consult the Austrian government on resolving this menace since Austria went through a similar situation.
He also wants the government, through the Minerals Commission, to take into accounts records of all gold deposit demographics and quantities of gold deposit on each acreage. This he said, will enable the country to protect against the wanton destruction of the lands, and also easily do reclamation after mining any tract of land.
His suggestions follow the new directives from the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Samuel Abu Jinapor, that bans mining activities in the country.
According to him, the directives by the sector minister cannot in any way achieve the intended results.
A move by successive governments to regulate the activities of Ghana’s mining sector seem to have failed due to lack of cooperation from actors within the industry. This nearly caused the ruling government the 2020 general elections.
Their activities are ravaging the country. Those actively engaged in it however, do not see its immediate implications of their activities on themselves and the greater population.
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