Galamsey in Ghana blamed on lack of law enforcement 

The worsening situation and the negative effect of illegal mining or galamsey in Ghana have been blamed on the lack of enforcement of laws and regulations on mining.

This lack of enforcement is to a large extent due to the connivance of state officials with the galamsey operators and even foreigners for selfish gains.

These were views of panelists on Current Affairs Programme "Focus," which discussed how to tackle galamsey and the involvement of foreigners.

The Associate Executive Director, WACAM, Hannah Owusu-Koranteng said, Ghanaians talk about issues when the situation gets out of hand, and blame it on the failure of institutions mandated to enforce the regulations and laws of the country.

The CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Toni Aubynn wondered how the foreigners get into the country and go to the remote areas to operate.

For his part, the Assistant Manager of Small Scale Mining of the Minerals Commission, Kofi Tetteh said, the laws on Small Scale Mining are very clear but some of the people who secure the license are forced to team up with foreigners because small mining which is artisanal has now turned to be large scale requiring the use of heavy equipment.

The Minerals Commission is therefore putting up measures to curb illegal mining.

GBC