The President of the Concerned Farmers Association, Nana Oboadie Boateng Bonsu has said the Ghanaian government is not serious with the fight against illegal mining also known as ‘galamsey’.
His comment comes on the back of the re-arrest of the popular Chinese galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang who has been arraigned for fresh charges.
Aisha Huang, who was a household name in Ghana five years ago, was charged together with three others for engaging in sales and purchases of minerals without a license.
She is also separately on a provisional charge of engaging in mining without a license.
However, speaking to Accra Based Starr FM, Nana Oboadie said the government could not fulfill promises made on the fight against galamsey.
According to him, the government made him to embark on a fruitless venture of going round the hotspots of galamsey in the country but nothing productive happened.
He added that he cannot go to some of the regions again because the young people will chase him for failing to honor the promise of giving them farming opportunity in place of galamsey.
“So we wrote letters to the Minerals Commission and even met the Minister for Lands and Minerals Resources thinking that we will get support and change the lives of the people. But nothing happened. We moved all the way to Dunkwa and then mobilized all the young people around DunKwan on-Offin.
“I met the Chief of DunKwa and also met the Assembly members around so we registered most of the people who said they are no longer going to engage in galamsey. Rather, they want to go into farming but since that time up till now, nothing has been done again,” Nana Bonsu disclosed.
He continued “So we see that the fight against galamsey that they are talking about is just a scam. All because if it is not a scam why is that the people that are into galamsey are saying that they are no more into it. They said they will not do the galamsey again and want farming. Just give them the support.”
