By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), June 12, GNA – As part of efforts to end illegal mining in Ghana, the National Peace Council (NPC) has advocated a policy requiring companies to allocate a quota of employment to members of host communities.
It also urged the government to support investors and entrepreneurs to engage in sustainable mining practices to enable them to develop the industries to absorb mining community members involved in the illegal mining, otherwise known as galamsey.
Mr Frank Wilson Bodza, the Deputy Director of Conflict Management and Resolution at the National Peace Council (NPC), said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa.
He said illegal mining breeds social vices such as drug and substance abuse, commercial sex work, human rights abuse and the tendency of illegal miners to own and use firearms resulting in crime and security issues in the country.
Mr Bodza said such mechanisms, policies and support systems would help reduce the friction between mining companies and their host communities as well as tackle the menace of illegal mining.
He indicated that it was necessary for the government to put in place the appropriate measures to address the issue of illegal mining as that also posed a risk to the nation’s environmental sustainability.
He emphasised the need for strict environmental, social and economic impact assessment of the mining companies to ensure they provided alternative livelihoods for host communities, especially the youth who are engaged in illegal mining.
“The other thing is to also compel the mining companies or the industry to plough back some of their profit into developing the community … creating jobs that will also absorb the other community members and then the youth of the country if they cannot even get employment in the mining sector,” Mr Bodza explained.
He, however, observed that any intervention by the government would require the political will to curb illegal mining.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Christian Akorlie