The Director of Academic Affairs and Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Professor Kwesi Aning has admonished the government to focus on fixing structures in the fight against illegal mining (galamsey).
In his view, the anti-galamsey interventions by the state is not appearing to yield the needed results.
Speaking to Joy News, he proposed that the government should focus on dealing with the structures that facilitate illegal mining.
“We are going nowhere with these anti-galamsey interventions until we deal with the structures that facilitate it,” Professor Kwesi Aning stressed.
He fears that if the state continue failing to apply the law to sanction those engaging in illegal mining, eventually people will lose fate in the systems and take the law into their own hands.
“The laws will not be applied because those who flout them will not be punished and it is not just ordinary individuals who flout these laws.
“The danger here is that when the State and its agencies fail to behave in a manner that citizens believe in and respect, over time citizens begin to take the law into their own hands,” “We are going nowhere with these anti-galamsey interventions until we deal with the structures that facilitate it,” Professor Kwesi Aning warned.
The issue of galamsey has taken centre stage this week following the news that popular Chinese galamsey kingpin Aisha Huang has been arrested in Ghana after her deportation four years.
She was arrested for engaging in similar offences and has been remanded into police custody with two others to reappear on September 14.
Source: ModernGhana
