The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, George Mireku Duker, says that the government is implementing measures to address the illegal mining (galamsey) problem in Ghana.

According to him, the calls from various groups for a ban on small-scale mining are not needed, describing such demands as misguided.

Speaking at the commissioning of a mining scheme in the Upper Denkyira Municipality of the Central Region, Mr. Duker said that instead of banning small-scale mining, the government will soon deploy river guards to protect water bodies.

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“I’m against the call for the ban on mining generally, you can’t ban mining. The way for us as a government will be deploying the river guards soon, Currently, we have trained not less than 300 people.

“The Naval Command took that responsibility and trained this youth so we will very soon deploy them to protect river bodies permanently. As we have the forest guards, let’s also have river guards,” he said.

He added that the government plans to equip these river guards with body cameras to ensure their activities are closely monitored.

“We wouldn’t listen to calls that are not in a way purporting to resolve the challenge,” Mr Duker said.

He reiterated that banning mining is not the answer, noting that after a ban in 2018, the country saw record gold production from the small-scale mining sector.

“So it means, it is not the solution. The solution is to find where the challenge is and resolve it,” he added.