Founding President of policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, has said without a decentralised system of minerals rights enforcement, the five-member inter-ministerial taskforce, will not be the solution to the problem of illegal mining in Ghana. The inter-ministerial committee was inaugurated on Tuesday by the President John Mahama to flush out Ghanaians and foreigners engaged in illegal mining in the country. The five-member task force will work in a coordinated manner with the military and the police to arrest and prosecute Ghanaians and foreigners engaged in illegal mining. It is chaired by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, with the Minister of Interior, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, the Minister of Defence, Mr Mark Woyongo, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Hannah Tetteh, and the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, as members. It is also charged to hold metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives and their respective district security committees accountable for any illegal mining activity in their areas of jurisdiction. But speaking on the Super Morning Show Wednesday, Franklin Cudjoe said the real solution to the problem would be to decentralise mineral rights enforcement laws. He said it will be difficult to ensure effective oversight of the mining activities in the remote areas in other regions when authorities charged with enforcement of mining laws are situated in Accra. Mr Cudjoe is of the view that these illegal mining activities and their associated problems are local problems demanding a local enforcement approach. According to him, it is not right for people with interest in small scale mining to come to the Minerals Commission in Accra to obtain licenses before going back to the remote area where the mining will take place. But Murtala Mohammed, a Deputy Minister for Information and Media Relations, has said the task force can deliver on its mandate. According to him, the difference between the current taskforce and other interventions to arrest the galamsey issue is the coordination between the member ministries. For instance, according to Murtala Mohammed, issues to do with foreigners involved in small-scale mining border partly on Immigration Service which falls under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The five-member ministerial committee will be reporting directly to the Chief of Staff, and this according to the Deputy Minister, is as good as reporting to the President himself. The Deputy Minister admits the suggestion by Franklin Cudjoe, regarding the need to give local authorities enforcement powers is a good one, but he stated reports of collusion between some of the illegal miners make it difficult to repose confidence in them. He stressed that by the mandate of the taskforce, local authorities will have a role to play to ensure the aims of the taskforce are achieved. According to the Minister, the urgent problem to deal with presently is how livelihoods are being destroyed, lives are being lost, and environments being polluted as a result of galamsey.