President Akufo-Addo is hopeful the National Consultative Forum on Small-Scale Mining will result in a national policy backed by a national consensus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He wants the consensus to be on a \u201csustainable method of mining the minerals in our land.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President also expects that the outcomes of the forum will \u201cbe beyond partisan politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe cannot have one part of the political divide campaigning for galamsey in the bush and the other waging an official fight against galamsey in the open,\u201d President Akufo-Addo said as he launched the forum on Wednesday, April 14, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is absolutely crucial that the deliberations of this consultative dialogue be candid and devoid of partisanship or narrow parochial interests,\u201d the President added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that environmental activism should not be the preserve of mainly foreign observers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is the land of our birth. It is the land we inhabit. It is the land that supports our lives and livelihoods\u2026We the Ghanaian people must be its best protectors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President further re-affirmed his commitment to clamping down on illegal mining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI will not hesitate to act where the evidence is hard before the police. And I will do so irrespective of the standing of the person or persons involved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever the outcome of the Forum will be, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Jinapor, stressed that all hands on deck would be needed to sanitise the mining sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will require a holistic honest national effort anchored on the integrity of action. We will require a candid collaborative and collective action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhatever sets of measures that will emanate from the deliberations over the next two days, if approved by the government will be implemented diligently,\u201d Mr. Jinapor assured further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The forum will be a two-day roundtable discussion on challenges confronting the small-scale mining sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There will also be deliberations on possible solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The forum will have inputs from key mining experts, the Small-Scale Mining Association, the Coalition of Civil Society Against Illegal Small-Scale Mining, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Source: citinewsroom.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Akufo-Addo is hopeful the National Consultative Forum on Small-Scale Mining will result in a national policy backed by a national consensus. He wants the consensus to be on a \u201csustainable method of mining the minerals in our land.\u201d The President also expects that the outcomes of the forum will \u201cbe beyond partisan politics.\u201d \u201cWe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n