posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday July 7, 2010
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the Wassa Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM), Daniel Owusu-Koranteng says the country is becoming “overwhelmed” by problems in the mining sector calling for “drastic” measures to stop them.
“The problems in the mining sector, both small and large scale are beginning to overwhelm the whole nation. It comes in term of loss of human lives, pollution of water bodies, destruction of properties, poor safety measures, conflicts, corruption and above all human rights abuses.”
Mr. Owusu-Koranteng was reacting to the recent mining disaster which claimed at least 70 lives describing it as “very unfortunate and tragic” but said “it could easily have been prevented if our mining regulators had been up to the task.”
According to media sources at least 70 small scale miners engaged in what is known in local parlance as ‘galamsey’ were killed after a gold mining pit collapsed in Dunkwa-on-Offin in the Central region.
The victims became trapped when rain caused the pit to cave in on Sunday, June 27 and only 21 bodies were retrieved by rescuers.
Mr. Owusu-Koranteng said problems in the mining sector “far outweigh our capacity to deal with them. We need a very strong and independent regulatory body, civil society organizations and an empowered media to be able to stop this onslaught.”
“In the drive to get gold, we are sacrificing safety, human rights and other social considerations. The rate of accidents and other problems give you an impression of an industry that is getting out of regulation.”
The WACAM boss said “the unfortunate but tragic accident could easily have been prevented. It came as a result operating without consideration to safety rules.”
He said “I do not believe that anybody including the district assembly, Minerals Commission and other state regulators were not aware about the operations of the miners and its consequence.”
He said the drive for gold and other mineral resources have become so strong and have been boosted with the surge in gold prices on the world market adding “both small and large scale mining sectors are engaged in fierce battles to control the resources.”
“The craze for gold is so strong that even mining companies now use the police, military and other security agencies to brutalise our own people anytime they try to express genuine concerns.”
“Safety issues are becoming very important in artisanal mining. Small scale mining has changed tremendously from the use of pickaxes and shovels to heavy duty machines and equipment and government should not relent in its effort to put stringent measures to check abuse in that sector,” he noted.
He said the Minerals and Mining Act 2006 (Act 703) is clear very clear on who should engage in mining in Ghana but the small scale mining sector has now been taken over by foreigners who are operating with impunity.
Sadly, “We have a network of Ghanaians including chiefs, business people and some elements in the security agencies fronting for these foreigners to destroy our environment and abuse the rights of the people,” he said.
WACAM is a non-governmental organization campaigning against irresponsible and illegal mining.
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