#StopGalamsey still important, as Vetted Legal Small Scale Miners go back to work
A day after the Inter Ministerial Committee announced that Galamsey, Illegal Mining, remained banned & only vetted & passed small scale miners will go back to mine under very strict modalities. The illegalities continue unabated and Operation Vanguard continue to arrest illegal miners, especially Chinese. This just tells me that the #StopGalamsey fight should be stepped up. The media need to step the game of holding leadership to account and should work closely with the IMCIM to ensure that the road map and the new policy framework are fit for purpose and that it is being executed flawlessly with great outcomes. Let me remind Prof Frempong Boateng that we are waiting for a copy of the new policy. It is not on the website www.imcimgh.com
I have had some people ask whether the ban achieved its purpose. My answer is a big YES; could we have done some more with the ban, YES as well. You need to understand that the ban and the #StopGalamsey fight is a war with many battles, we have won some of the wars and we have lost some.
But if we had not started the war at all we will have been consumed as a nation by now. Bear in mind that the World Health Organization sets the acceptable levels of turbidity for water to be treated at 5 NTU. “High levels of turbidity can protect microorganisms from the effects of disinfection, stimulate the growth of bacteria, and give rise to a significant chlorine demand. Effective disinfection requires that turbidity is less than 5 NTU; ideally, median turbidity should be below 1 NTU”. https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwqvol32ed.pdf
However the turbidity of water just before the ban was imposed at Odaso on the River Oda, for example was over 3,500 NTU. So we were in crisis of humongous proportions and after ban we saw some improvement, the turbity at Odaso in May 2018 was 725 NTU, 20.7% of the Dec 2016 figure. So you cannot but conclude that, this, improvement in turbidity, is a battle won. However there is still a lot to be done as the turbidity has been fluctuating since the illegality continues.
If you also consider that Operation Vanguard has seized and immobilized over 6000 Chanfans and Excavators and the damage that these can do in a day. Then if you multiply the 6000 by the numbers of days they have remained out of service by the damage done per day. Then you will know that the ban has been useful.
If you also consider that less than 300 out of 1,350 small-scale licensees, that is less 22.2% passed the vetting. Then you will agree that it was important that the whole artisanal mining was in a mess and it required a complete overhaul and that could not have been done without, a complete stop, review, clean up before we start.
Just a day after the announcement, this is the Operation Vanguard operational updates for Saturday, 15 December 2018
Forward Operating Base (FOB) Ashanti on Saturday, 15 December 2018 conducted patrols to illegal mining sites at Kokotro in the Bekwai municipality.
The patrol team arrested nine Chinese illegal miners at Kokotro. The suspects include; Libo Lan 26, Shao Znou 39, Chen Yi Guang 38, Wei Ru Xin 46, Yang An Wu 41, Chen Qidong 30, Wu Sheng Hei 43, Wu Rang Mzing 31and Wu Heng Shan 49.
These Chinese suspects have been handed over to the Immigration Service personnel at Obuasi for further investigation and action. The patrol team also seized:
- 3 excavator control boards
- 4 excavator monitors,
- 6 excavator starter assemblies,
- 13 heavy duty batteries,
- 2 water pumping machines,
- 2 generator sets,
- 2 grinding machines,
- 3 gold weighing scale,
- 1 power inventor,
- 6 diesel filters,
- 1 pack of electrodes,
- 1 direct current motor,
- 2 change over machines,
- 25 BB cartridges,
- and Gotta phone.
Four containers of sand suspected to be gold-bearing materials and a Nissan Navara pickup with registration number GT 8249-16 were also seized.
What I will ask from this report is
- Who owns the Nissan Navara pickup with registration number GT 8249-16. The DVLA should be able to tells who registered this vehicle and we should invite the person to answer questions
- What are Immigration Service personnel at Obuasi doing about this & other cases of Chinese arrested, including those who were arrested at the Forest Reserve carrying a cache of weapons and ammunitions?
I invite the media to follow these stories up. The Inter Ministerial Committee should help deal with these infractions to serve as deterrents for those who will want to still perpetuate the illegality with the ban on small scale mining being lifted tomorrow, 17th December 2018
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