Government to find alternative sources of livelihood for 'galamseyers'

May 20, 2017 9:27 AM

A cabinet committee has been established, and headed by the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimping Boateng, to this effect, the president said in Guinea, Conakry.

President Nana Akufo-Addo said his administration is working on strategies to find an alternative source of livelihood for illegal miners (galamseyers) as government issues a six month ban on mining due to the destruction of the nations river bodies and cocoa farms.

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“One of the advantages of campaigning is that you get to see Ghana. It is the exposure I had in this last campaign of what was actually going on in the field that hardened my decision, God-willing if I was to win the election, to make the fight against ‘galamsey’ one of my priorities,” the president told the Ghanaian committee in Conakry.

According to the president, about “60%, we are told, of the water bodies in Ghana have been affected by illegal mining activities. That is unacceptable. We are not out to attack Chinese or Canadians or whoever. We are saying that we want people to respect the laws of our country and make sure that our environment does not suffer from mining, and that is what we are going to do.”