Mustapha Gbande has waded into the debate on illegal mining, insisting that the mess left by the previous administration is still haunting the country.
“No government can stop mining per se in Ghana; it is not possible. But what we must do is regulate it.
The devastation we see in river bodies and forest reserves is largely because the past government released these lands to foreigners without reforestation or reclamation. Angels did not come to clean up that mess—we have come to meet it,” Gbande said on GHOne TV monitored by MyNewsGh.
He disclosed that under John Mahama’s leadership, mining permits in forest reserves have already been suspended, while ministers are being mobilized to fight environmental destruction.
Gbande did not mince words when he demanded accountability from political leaders and individuals who failed to reclaim mined lands.
“If you have mined in a forest reserve in the last eight years and you have not reclaimed, we know you. The community people know you. Let us arrest and prosecute such persons and compel them to repair the damage,” he charged.
Referring to illegal miners operating in protected areas as “environmental terrorists,” Gbande emphasized that Mahama’s government will not allow mining in river bodies and forest reserves.
“The devastations are so much that we have to collectively fight. When the opposition sits in Parliament pretending to care, Ghanaians must remember that they were the very agents of this destruction,” he added.
