The Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Paa Kwasi Schandorf, has explained that the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP), is designed to tackle the root causes of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, 16th August, he said the initiative seeks to prevent individuals from acquiring land in communities solely for mining while sidelining local residents.

Instead, it is structured to make mining a communal activity where locals are formally involved.

According to him, once communities are officially engaged in the process, residents are less likely to resort to illegal mining.

"Instead of being a communal in outlook, it became an avenue for the political elite to venture into the enterprise of mining without the cooperation of the local folks. So what is the latest intervention? It is now seen that the entire operationalization of the mining in the local enclave involves the local people; in that way, it is a community-owned, it is community-facilitated," he said on the show.

According to him, this will help to put an end to galamsey because, "If you go to the communities, the justification for a good number of them has been consistently given is that they do not have an economic enterprise. What we are now doing is that, if it is true that they do not work and mining is what they want to do, we want them to do that more responsibly and sustainably, this time around, not recklessly."

He noted that the programme, which came into sharp focus following the tragic August 6, helicopter crash, remains a vital tool in promoting responsible mining practices.