President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday January 30, 2025, reiterated the government’s commitment to ban mining in all forest reserves of the nation.
“Let me take this opportunity to state that it shall be the policy of this Government to ban the issuance of leases for mining in all forest reserves,” President Mahama stated when he formally inaugurated his third batch of 14 Ministers at the seat of Government in Accra.
“We shall also move promptly to revoke all leases issued for the same purpose under the previous government.”
The President charged Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, with the duty of safeguarding the environment from marauding gallants and managing the nation’s natural resources effectively.
President Mahama stated categorically that his government had not given any person or group of persons any authority to carry out any form of mining in these forest reserves as recently reported.
He urged the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, the Minister for the Interior, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice to take immediate steps to ensure the arrest and prosecution of any persons or group of persons engaged in this illegality.
“I also need to state here that no member of this government is permitted to engage in any form of small-scale mining or gallamsey,” the President said.
“Any such persons will face sanctions which shall be swift and severe.”
President Mahama said the Government would hold a stakeholder consultation on the menace of galamsey to forge a broad consensus on the measures to preserve the nation’s environment from wanton destruction.
This, he said would involve but not limited to the formation of a River Guard, which would employ youth from the communities affected by illegal mining, cleaning, and eliminating toxic substances from the nation’s water bodies, reclaiming mined-out lands, training small-scale miners in sustainable mining practices.
He said the Government had also begun the establishment of the Gold Board, which would ensure that Ghana gets the full benefit of the bountiful natural resource that God has blessed Ghanaians with.
The third batch of 14 Ministers; consist of six Ministers of State and eight Regional Ministers.
The six Ministers of State are Dr Edward Kofi Omane Boamah, Minister of Defence; Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources; Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, Minister for the Interior: Madam Naa Momo Lartey, Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection; Mr Kenneth Adjei, Minister of Works, Housing and Water Resources; and Mr Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum, Minister of State in-charge of Special Initiatives.
The eight Regional Ministers include Mr Tia Ibrahim, North East Regional Minister, Dr Frank Amoakohene, Ashanti Regional Minister; Mr Akamugri Atanga Modestus, Upper East Regional Minister; Mr Ali Adolf John, Northern Regional Minister, and Mr James Gunu, Volta Regional Minister.
The rest are Mrs Rita Akosua Awatey, Eastern Regional Minister, Mr John Kwadwo Gyapong, Oti Regional Minister; and Madam Linda Akweley Ocloo, the Greater Accra Regional Minister.
In attendance at the event was Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang.
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