Former President, John Agyekum Kufuor has endorsed 2024 Presidential Candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s panacea for fighting illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey menace in the country.
The former President in an exclusive interview on Angel Morning Show (AMS) said Dr. Bawumia while addressing a stakeholder’s engagement in Upper Denkyira West in the Central Region as part of his campaign tour said his administration will permit registered small-scale miners to make use of data from the Geological Survey Authority in their work.
“We want to implement something new which is that we would cause the Geological Survey Authority to map out the exact location of gold deposits in mining areas so that mining will not just be digging from place to place, the miners will know exactly where the gold is…,” he said.
The data generated from the Geological Survey Authority investigations, Dr. Bawumia continued will be made available to Community Mining Schemes, which he will establish upon assumption of office.
“We would set up community mining schemes and give out the investigations by the miners so that they would know exactly where to mine. They will be mining with the data from the Geological Survey Authority so that they will know where to exactly get the gold…,” he added.
This solution, the ex-Ghana leader speaking on the galamsey menace on Angel Morning Show said is the right antidote to the canker eating the Ghanaian society.
Former President Kufour said he became extremely happy when he heard the economist proposed the provision of data for miners for would-be small-scale miners as part of the solutions to fighting the menace.
“I was on cloud nine when a few days ago I heard Dr. Bawumia propose the need for us to engage Geologists to map out the location of gold deposits so that prospective miners will go straight to mine in those areas instead of digging haphazardly in search of gold…,” he said.
The man who ruled Ghana from 2001 to 2008 said this would help to also monitor the activities of small-scale miners who have been granted licenses to mine in the country.
“When the Geologists are done with their work, we would then hand the maps over to persons who will be granted licenses to go look for their monies at the exact places on the maps handed over to them. The law can later deal with any of them who would go out of the allocated places and mine. All these will form part of the immediate remedies to the problem…,” he said.
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