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Small scale miners threaten to hold 'Ku me preko' demonstration against ban

The ban was necessitated in 2017 by the government after the destruction of water bodies and forest reserves went on the rise.

In April 2017, the Lands and Natural Resources Minister John Peter Amewu imposed a six-month ban on small scale mining in a bid to fight illegal mining.

But the small scale miners said they have been rendered jobless by government's refusal to lift the ban.

After one year of the ban, a group calling itself Concerned Small Scale Miners Association have threatened a demonstration dubbed "Ku Me Preko" to voice out their grievances on the effect of the ban.

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According to the group, the ban has led to a great negative impact on the families of those affected, which included broken homes affected health and poverty on the rise as well as increase of debt.

President of the Association, Richard Kojo Peprah, said the demonstration will see hundreds of affected members gather at Kumasi on June 26 for the demonstration.

Speaking at a news conference at Akwatia in the Eastern region, Peprah stated that the Association can no longer bear the the effect of the ban.

He said,"We cannot endure any longer, idling away precious manpower while our equipment gather dust and rust. Our concessions are being taken over by reptiles and illegal miners. Our bank accounts hitting red, our members going impotent and bankrupt, our homes breaking, and we becoming objects of public ridicule."

He added: "We will not hesitate to speak the only language government understands and we forewarn that this time no amount of pressure, humiliation, intimidation can cow us from venting our frustrations on the street to make our case of our legal chosen business."

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Mr Peprah earlier speaking on the ban said the government's measures to fight the illegal mining has yielded no results because it failed to adopt the right methods.

"It will be not far fetch to suggest that government has run out of ideas dealing with the problems and that it has no justification to continue to keep legitimate license of Ghanaians confined to their homes. We Concerned Small Scale Miners Association wishes to draw government’s attention that the military intervention to fight illegal mining has proven to be ineffective ever since the menace became a national crises," he noted.

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