Galamsey is striking the backbone of Ghana, cocoa export might be banned soon – Fuseini hints

The ex-Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Inusah Fuseini, has suggested that Ghana might be banned from exporting its major export, cocoa, because of the menace of illegal mining (‘galamsey’).

According to him, because of ‘galamsey’ activities, some harmful chemicals including mercury are been found in cocoa beans which makes them unhealthy for consumption.

“Galamseyers are not only destroying our environment, but their activities are also now targeting the economic backbone of the country. I hope you have heard that European Union (EU) is saying that there are traces of mercury in our cocoa. It is striking at the backbone of the economy,” he said in Twi, in a Neat FM interview monitored by GhanaWeb.

Fuseini, who is also a former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, said that Ghana must start seeing the menace of ‘galamsey’ as a threat to its survival and putting serious measures to stop it.

“Even if we stop galamsey today, it will take the environment including the water bodies close to 100 years for a full restoration. That is the environmental damage. That is why elsewhere, such activities of people that damage the environment are treated as environmental crimes and are called crimes against the environment,” he said.

He further stated that the current approach being used by the government to fight the menace is not working because it is not broad enough.

“That is why I told Nana Addo that he was making a mistake when he said he is outrightly banning ‘galamsey’. When the second attempt was done, I told them that it must be a multi-stakeholder. A lot of people must be part of the fight,” he said.

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