By P.K.Yankey
Ezinlibo (W/R), March 18, GNA -The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is set to recruit 2,000 young people to guard and protect polluted river bodies, degraded lands and forest reserves.
The move forms part of measures to empower people in their communities to fight the galamsey menace in the country.
It is a joint collaboration between the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Ghana Navy, Minerals Commission, the Environmental Protection Authority, and the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology.
Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, made this know at the launch of the Blue River Initiative, with an initial recruitment of 460 River Guards at the Naval Base at Ezinlibo in the Jomoro Municipality of the Western Region.
The Minister said the government was committed to sustainable mining practices to create jobs and improve living conditions of the people.
Mr Buah said the government would announce major revisions on moratorium for issuing mining licenses with a complete review of the licensing regime to decentralize and bring sanity to the process.
He said the new regime would involve chiefs and landowners as custodians of the land in the process of licensing, and that community mining would be done by members in the community and not foreigners.
He charged the River Guards to be the first respondents to save the soul of the country by discharging their duty with unyielding dedication and uncompromising integrity.
The Minister said the Blue River Initiative would be launched in galamsey prone zones such as the Western North, Ashanti and other Regions.
Mr Joseph Nelson, the Western Regional Minister, thanked the Lands Minister for his effective resolve to restore and preserve the sanctity of river bodies and natural resources.
He said the Western Region held the highest tropical rain forest and river bodies in the country, but had been polluted by illegal small scale mining activities.
He said the Ghana Water Company treatment plant in Tarkwa was faced with treatment problem due to water pollution by galamsey activities.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission, Mr Emmanuel Anyimiah, said the initiative of the Lands Ministry aligned with the vision of the Commission and would support the Minister to succeed in clamping down on illegal small scale mining activities in Ghana.
He challenged the River Guards to rise up to the occasion and discharge their mandates creditably to save mother Ghana.
Commodore Emmanuel A. Kwafo, Flag Officer Commanding the Western Naval Command, stressed the preparedness of the Command to partner with the government to fight the illegal mining activities and the menace facing the river bodies.
He would offer the best training to the River Guards to work effectively to restore polluted river bodies in the country.
Paramount Chief of Nsein Traditional Area, Awulae Agyevi Kwame, who chaired the occasion, thanked the Ministry for the initiative and called on the government to fight the galamsey menace head on without compromises.
GNA