Imprisoning illegal miners won't end galamsey - Kwesi Pratt

Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr has kicked against the idea that illegal miners should be sentenced to a jail term. Illegal mining (galamsey) is an offence and persons caught engaging in this illegality are arrested and prosecuted. It has recently become a major concern for Ghanaians regarding how illegal miners should be treated to deter others from continuing in such trade. Some critics have suggested to the President to sanction a 'shoot to kill' order for any individual found at the galamsey site; others also propose that the illegal miners together with their conspirators should be imprisoned. Touching on the issue during Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme on Tuesday, Kwesi Pratt says imprisonment will not resolve the galamsey menace. He asked "what happens next after sentencing one to let's say 10 years in prison? Does it stop the galamsey?" To him, the right punishment should be for government to seize all the money the galamseyers have made and use it to reclaim the lands they've destroyed as well as commit them to community service purposed to arrive at restoring the environment. "I'm not saying punishing them is bad but we should place a lot more emphasis on undoing the damage which has been than just packing people into prison", he said.

Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr has kicked against the idea that illegal miners should be sentenced to a jail term. Illegal mining (galamsey) is an offence and persons caught engaging in this illegality are arrested and prosecuted. It has recently become a major concern for Ghanaians regarding how illegal miners should be treated to deter others from continuing in such trade. Some critics have suggested to the President to sanction a 'shoot to kill' order for any individual found at the galamsey site; others also propose that the illegal miners together with their conspirators should be imprisoned. Touching on the issue during Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme on Tuesday, Kwesi Pratt says imprisonment will not resolve the galamsey menace. He asked "what happens next after sentencing one to let's say 10 years in prison? Does it stop the galamsey?" To him, the right punishment should be for government to seize all the money the galamseyers have made and use it to reclaim the lands they've destroyed as well as commit them to community service purposed to arrive at restoring the environment. "I'm not saying punishing them is bad but we should place a lot more emphasis on undoing the damage which has been than just packing people into prison", he said.