President of the Concerned Small Scale Miners Association says the deployment of military and security personnel by President Akufo-Addo to remove persons illegally mining in water bodies and forest reserves may not yield the needed result.

According to him, the military approach devised to scare people from illegal mining on our water bodies will not bring about a new result.

“I think sometimes we make mistake as a nation and then we come back to learn other things… we can’t do the same thing every day and expect a different result," he said.

In an earlier statement signed by the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, the government announced the deployment of 200 officers in the military on River Pra in the Western and Central regions to halt operations of illegal miners.

Mr Peprah is not confident in the feasibility of this new directive as he doubts if it will ever "bring the needed result we are all expecting."

However, speaking in an interview on Joy FM's News Night, the Lands and Natural Resource Minister, Samuel Jinapor insisted that the move is the way to go.

He said the deployment of security to the water bodies and forest reserves are to prohibit mining activities in order to preserve the environment.

He added that he has absolute confidence in the deployed security to execute the task they have been assigned.

“As to the appropriateness or otherwise as to the potency or otherwise of it, I will leave it to the security expect I know have absolute confidence in them and I believe that the steps they are taking I will not involve anymore that which is that they are working to clear our water bodies of mining actually it cannot be a legal or illegal mining on the banks of our water bodies.

"Any kind of mining on the water bodies constitute illegality which is what they are trying to do. Forest reserves are also going to be safeguarded so this is where we are,” he stressed.

He further called on public to support government in the bid to clear and save our water bodies and forest reserves.

“And I am calling on Ghanaians to support the government because its either we are moving forward or we are not, enforcing the rules or not enforcing the rules and here we are government has begun to take steps to enforce the rules and I think that the least that the citizenry can do for the nation and survival of our country is to support this law enforcement arrangement,” he stated.