Tackling Galamsey:- Use ceased excavators to cover galamsey pits, don’t burn them-Orstin Rawlings
The President of the United States Africa Command, Ghana (AFRICOM), Mr. Abednego Orstin Rawlings, has devised a solution to combat galamsey, or illegal mining.
Mr Rawlings is focusing on the fight to end the illegal mining activities that were prevalent across the Country during the last regime.
The AFRICOM boss is proposing that the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources order or utilize security personnel to combat the illegal miners, instructing them to use the same excavators used by the galamseyers to cover the pits, he indicated.
“The galamseyers purchased these excavators with vast sums of money, and the owners credit the excavators to them, the galamseyers.
Therefore, the same equipment must be used to cover the pits,” he said.
“Not all the soil contains the ores we mean the stones that include the gold so their exploration show or indicate where the ores are and is covered for the galamseyers hard work comes to ground zero which is them (galamseyers) to come back to removals of the top soil again before getting to the gold is impossible.
Our free advice is to use the same soil with their excavators to fill the pit and cease excavating.
“The fight against galamsey will be much simpler if the state follows my advice,” Mr Rawlings said.
“If the pits they, the galamseyers or illegal miners, have used weeks to dig are now being covered and planted with edible trees in days, what will motivate them to get involved again”, he stressed.
When these pits are covered with the same soil, it will indeed serve as a deterrent to the galamseyers, and all Ghanaians will enjoy the benefits of safe water for domestic use, free from sickness and fear.
He stated that, with this operation covering illegal mining (galamsey), pits then the fight against galamsey work eighty-five percent (85%), complete, he indicated.
He said that since the security setup never discloses the time to take action, helicopters are used or needed to patrol along the water bodies, virgin forest and drop security personnel in the forest zones to combat illegal mining.
Mr. Rawlings advised the Lands Minister to use inmates (prisoners) to plant edible trees in all the pits covered with the same soil dug from the designated location.
He pointed out that Ghanaians whose water bodies look natural, like they did before, not brownish like a Milo drink for breakfast, are caused by galamseyers.
According to him, these illegal miners sometimes remove or disable the control boards of the excavators, rendering them immobile.
Regarding the artificial immovable caused by illegal miners(galamseyers), the state will have the easiest time obtaining the same machine control board, as a similar model excavator can move it and tow it to a low-bed trailer.
He advised against burning excavators, as it solves no problem.
