The President-elect, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, has admitted that Ghana is at risk within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc.
Mr Mahama admitted in an interview with DW News Africa, last Monday, that “all risk assessment” indicates that Ghana is at risk and stressed the need to be proactive, and also work as quickly as possible to avoid it from spreading into the nation.
He stressed that though Ghana is resilient and has not reached such stage; due to the better spread of development nationwide, it should not be taken for granted and suggested that opportunity must be created for young people to avoid their radicalisation.
To address the unemployment issue, the President-elect disclosed that it is a matter of urgency to stabilise the economy for the private sector to create jobs, as well as open Ghana for business and also direct investment.
Touching on the issue of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, the President-elect said the Akufo-Addo government made the mistake of introducing the Legislative Instrument (LI) that allowed mining in forest reserves, following which 37 forest reserves that were preserved had been invaded according to Ghana Forestry Commission.
He emphasised that his government would ban mining in forest reserves as well as in water bodies and restore them. He explained further that small-scale mining will be categorised into small artisanal mining and medium scale mining to regulate them better, as well as the introduction of a technology required to reclaim mined lands.
H.E. John Dramani Mahama disclosed that some countries have offered to provide the technology and funding for the reclamation exercise, which will also create employment especially for “ex-galamseyers”.
From Oswald Pius Freiku, Kumasi
