We will sue government over ban – Small scale miners

Small-scale miners in the Upper East Region have threaten to take legal actions against the Akufo-Addo-led government if the ban on small-scale mining is not lifted immediately.

In order to help protect water bodies and save the forests from depletion, the Akufo-Addo-led government has launched a war on illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) which has resulted in a six-month moratorium on all forms of small-scale mining activities in the country.

But the small-scale miners believe that the modus operandi adopted by the government is wrong. They believe the government must delink galamsey from small-scale miners who operate legally – those who operate with license – in this endeavor.

Speaking on Tuesday, August 22 in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Accra 100.5FM’s Ghana Yensom, John Yaro, Spokesperson for small-scale miners in the Upper East Region, said: “We are giving the government two weeks to lift the ban on mining otherwise we will sue the government.

“We are not illegal miners. We are licensed small-scale miners. The state gave us the license to mine and so why is the government asking those of us, the legal miners, not to do our business.

“The rule of law must work and so the six months that the government has banned us they will have to pay us. My children are unable to attend school because I can’t work.”