Dunkwa (CR), Dec. 19,- Government
is making moves to offer alternative sources of income for illegal miners who
have been out of work for some time now due to the ban on small-scale mining
since March this year.
The government, through the
Richie Plantations Limited, a firm that nurtures palm seedlings, has been
supplying free palm seedlings to illegal miners and farmers for planting to
make them financially self-reliant.
Madam Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, a
Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, therefore urged illegal miners
to take advantage and acquire lands for cultivation of palm plantations.
During a visit to Richie
Plantations Limited Nursery Project at Dunkwa in Upper Denkyira East, in the
Central Region, Madam Oteng-Gyasi, said government initiated the Multilateral
Integrated Mining Project (MMIP) to offer alternative livelihoods for illegal
miners and combat illegal mining, otherwise known as “galamsey”.
She said under the MMIP,
artisanal miners would be empowered through employable skills to earn a living,
saying; “Oil mills will be constructed under the MMIP for processing palm oil
for export”.
Madam Oteng-Gyasi, also the
Member of Parliament for Prestea Huni-Valley, therefore, encouraged miners, who
had been out of work for the past nine months to participate in the Project
since it had already started yielding positive results.
“In my district, Prestea
Huni-Valley, we have such projects ongoing and farmers who are participating
have really benefited and some of them have built modest houses from the
proceeds of their farming, which is commendable,” she said.
The Deputy Minister said mining
impacted directly on the host communities, therefore, a special assistance was
required to improve the livelihoods of the people and minimise the negative
impact of mining.
She said the Minerals Development
Fund was initiated while a Minerals Development Act was enacted by parliament
in 2016 to raise revenue from mineral royalties to support the development
efforts of mining communities.
The Deputy Minister noted that,
the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources was undertaking measures to
operationalise the legislation to ensure that the people in mining communities
benefit.
She said mining projects would
come to an end therefore residents in mining communities were supposed to have
alternative livelihood projects to sustain them.
“So the Minerals Development Fund
has come to stay to lift communities affected by mining from abject poverty and
improve the livelihoods of all”.
Mr Richard Ekow Quansah, the
Chief Executive Officer of the Richie Plantations Ltd, for his part, said the
Company had employed 400 people out of which 150 were women, serving as helpers
in mining sites and 10 artisanal miners.
He said it started operations in
2007 in Prestea Huni-Valley, in the Western Region, supplying palm seedlings to
farmers free of charge with financial support from the HIPC Fund and later
moved to Dunkwa-Anyanfuri in Upper Denkyira East of the Central Region.
He said it had targeted to nurse
one million seedlings for distribution to farmers and indicated that the
Company received three million Ghana Cedis from government this year to expand
the nursery project.
Ghana has been devastated by the
activities of illegal mining over the last decade, which has polluted water
bodies and destroyed vegetation.
Government therefore launched the
Multilateral Mining Integrated Project at the University of Mines and
Technology, Tarkwa, in August this year, to provide alternative livelihoods to
artisanal miners and offer capacity-building for media practitioners and other
stakeholders towards ending the menace of illegal mining.
The Government, members of the
Media Coalition against Galamsey and other media practitioners, this year
started waging war against the phenomenon.
The government initially placed a
six-month ban on all forms of small-scale mining across the country and
extended it by three months after expiry in October this year.
In addition, 400 joint military
and police task force were deployed in July this year to Western, Eastern and
Ashanti regions to enforce the moratorium.
GNA
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