The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Samuel Abu Jinapor, says Ghanaians should blame the Military High Command if the renewed fight against illegal mining fails.
According to Mr. Jinapor, the Command, which is in charge of Operation Halt II, a group of soldiers deployed to rid the country’s water bodies off illegal miners, has authority from the President to deal with all matters that would arise during their operations.
He said the group had been charged to be blind to all manner of considerations that would arise from the political, business, traditional, or religious spaces.
This directive, the Minister viewed as enough grounds for Ghanaians to blame the Military High Command instead of his Ministry, should they fail in the fight.
“The soldiers have this comprehensive list of licensed small scale mining operations across the country. So a politician is not allowed to intervene…Not only politicians, nobody is allowed to intervene.
So I, as the Minister, I am not allowed to intervene; I am not allowed to call the Military High Command to say this concession, please don’t get there or go to that concession.
“That discretion is not given to anybody. They are to use their own professional security expert judgment to take on this matter…
“So if things go wrong in the cause of the operation, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources to a large extent will not be held accountable.
It is the Military High Command which will be held accountable because nobody, not a minister; not a politician, not a religious leader, not a chief is allowed to call the commanders in the field to say do this or do that,’ Mr. Jinapor emphasised.
The Minister made these comments when he updated the media on the re-launching of the Operation Halt team, as well as other measures being pursued by the government in the fight against galamsey.
It would be recalled that the government, in May 2021, launched Operation Halt II, where 400 soldiers of all ranks were deployed to rid the country’s water bodies off illegal miners.
The operation was, however, halted for months, but has now been revamped due to the government’s renewed fight in combating the menace.
Speaking yesterday, Minister Jinapor said the reason why the military had been given the free will to operate in this current fight was due to complaints it received from the military concerning politicians, businessmen, and all class of people, which consequently affected the fight.
“That has also been some of the problems; and that were some of the complaints that the military people came with.
All manner of people, not only politicians; all manner of people; influential people in society intervening on behalf of illegal miming people; and we don’t want that to happen again. So this is the other major decision we have taken in respect of this operation…
“They are to be blind to all manner of consideration; political considerations; status what have you. If the mining operation is unlawful they are to be closed down. They have the full authority of the President to do so,” the Minister said.
Mr. Jinapor stated that he would not interfere with the work of the military, and believed that his colleagues, and all other influential people, would do same.
Speaking on other measures that had been put in place to make the work of the military easier and efficient, the Minister said that the Military High Command had been provided with a comprehensive list of all licensed, lawful, small scale mining operations across the country.
He said this would enable the soldiers to distinguish the lawful operators from the illegal ones and deal appropriately with the latter.
Another measure the Minister made was the addition of professional bodies such as the Criminal Investigation Departments (CIDs) and Chief Inspectors of Mines to the team.
He indicated that while the CIDs had been assigned to collect evidence for purposes of prosecution, the Chief Inspectors of Mines were to ensure that any licensed small scale miner, who is not operating within the ambit of laid down rules and regulations, would be brought to book.
On resources, Mr. Jinapor indicated that in order to ensure nothing halted the operation, issues of funding and logistics had been addressed. He said sufficient funding had been put aside to take care of logistics.
“We just want to make sure that this is sustainable so the issue of funding, logistics, finance does not arise. …We have sufficient funding and logistics to support this operation… The operation will be on until the government is satisfied with the gains,” Mr. Jinapor said.
