The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, has said he remains resolute in uniting the country to fight illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, as well as other environmental crimes within the next four years.

He has consequently proposed a multi-prong approach to dealing with the illegal mining menace.

This will include tactical deployment of security persons for swoops, strengthening of awareness creation and education in mining communities and effective collaboration with local assemblies and traditional authorities, while also taking steps to regenerate the country’s degraded landscape through an aggressive reclamation programme. 

“President John Dramani Mahama has given me a clear mandate to rally other stakeholders in a unified fight to rid the country of illegal mining and other environmental crimes within the next four years, and I will not renege on that mandate,” the minister declared.

Visit to EPA

Mr Muhammed, who is also the Tamale Central Member of Parliament (MP), stated this when he paid a working visit to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) after officially taking office last Monday.

During the visit to the EPA, the minister held discussions with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the authority, Prof. Nana Ama Browne Klutse, and other top management members of the state institution.

He assured them of his unwavering support and readiness to support them with the needed resources to help enforce environmental regulations. 

Collective effort

Mr Muhammed stated that while the anti-galamsey fight would be spearheaded by MEST, the relevant stakeholder ministries and agencies in the environment, natural resources and security sectors would stick to a coordinated and well-rehearsed strategy to protect the environment.

"Of course, MEST will play a lead role in confronting galamsey but we cannot do it in isolation.

The ministers of Lands and Natural Resources, Defence, the Interior, Local Government, Rural Development and Chieftaincy, will also play key roles in the fight," he said.

He emphasised that EPA and other agencies under MESTI must gird their loins and get actively involved in the rollout of measures to tackle the canker.

The minister noted that because there were security implications where people wielded arms, the security agencies would play a central role in dealing with such situations.

He stressed that the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice also had a role to play in terms of prompt prosecution of offenders. 

"We need to work in a collaborative fashion to be able to confront this, and I am very convinced that we shall achieve the objective and the purpose for which we were appointed," he said.

The minister gave a strong indication that while he did not take delight in giving timeliness, the multi-stakeholders would not approach the galamsey fight with a business-as-usual attitude.

"What I can say is that we are poised, we are committed to doing that which the President expects us to do.

And for me, at the end of the day, we will be able to justify why President Mahama was given the overwhelming mandate by the people of Ghana," he said.

Commitment

For her part, Prof. Klutse, who has already hit the ground running with field visits to some mining communities, said the EPA would work closely with the relevant stakeholders to enforce environmental laws.

She said the health of the population was largely dependent on the health of the environment, for which reason everything possible would be done to safeguard it.