'Ignore 500 missing excavators propaganda by NDC' - Asomah-Cheremeh

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh has debunked claims by the opposition National Democratic Congress that the government cannot account for some 500 excavators it has seized in the anti-galamsey fight.

Answering questions at "Meet The Press Series" organized by the Ministry of Information, Hon. Asomah-Cheremeh challenged those with contrary evidence to his presentation to provide further and better particulars.

"Anybody who doubts what I have said on this missing excavator matter should bring the chassis and registration numbers; we will gladly welcome them and carry out a full-scale investigation into it."

The Minister clarified that following a Cabinet decision in March 2020, his Ministry took direct responsibility to streamline and manage small scale mining activities, by taking an inventory of various equipment that was seized by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) and “Galamstop”.

"The Ministry has toured a number of locations to take inventory of this equipment, especially excavators. This exercise has resulted in the citing of 157 excavators currently located at the following sites: Adenta-122, Obuasi-26, Tarkwa-9, making a total of 157."

Additionally, documents received from “Operation Vanguard” and “Galamstop” indicate a number of seized excavators as follows:

Operation Vanguard-290, Galamstop-81.

"My Ministry is working to reconcile these figures and develop a database to assist in managing this equipment.", he stated.

In a related development, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is working with the Office of the Attorney- General to ensure full compliance with the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), as amended by the 2019 Minerals and Mining Amendment Act (Act 995)-especially sections (9) and (10).