Name And Shame Persons Caught Engaging In Illegal Mining - Small Scale miners

General Secretary of of Small Scale Miners Association, Godwin Armah has urged the government to consider the option of naming and shaming in the fight against illegal mining. His call follows the Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu's statement at a Regional Consultative Dialogue on small-scale mining in the Ashanti Region

on Wednesday, where he challenged the stakeholders to be truthful in the fight against the menace and call out all persons involved in the act since they are known. Mr. Armah, in an interview however, advised government to be circumspect in its approach, when it decides to act on the advice. We know the issues. We know all people

who issue licences for the people to mine in the foreign reserves. We know all those who give licences to some foreigners to work in forest reserves. If we cannot be truthful to ourselves, we cannot win this fight. When we start singling people out, we will start to achieve results in this fight and no one will ever want their name to be

associated with this illegality, especially in the public eye. This will serve as a deterrent to others. But, there is the need for the government to be very careful when it decides to name and shame actors in small-scale illegal mining in the country, he added. Currently, the Ghana Armed Forces have commenced the second phase of

their security operation to also fight illegal small-scale mining. A statement from the Ministry of Information said the exercise, dubbed ‘Operation Halt II’ is aimed at “removing all persons and logistics involved in mining on water bodies and the new phase of the operation focuses on the tributaries of the Pra River, which have

also been significantly affected by the activities of the illegal miners, the statement added. The Ghana Armed Forces have also commenced armed patrols of the Pra river. The operation is being undertaken by 400 men of all ranks.