{"id":443117,"date":"2017-12-02T18:30:40","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T18:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/"},"modified":"2017-12-02T18:30:40","modified_gmt":"2017-12-02T18:30:40","slug":"judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/","title":{"rendered":"Judiciary is a weak link in fight against \u2018galamsey\u2019 \u2013 Media Coalition Against Galamsey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">General News of Saturday,  2 December 2017<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>Myjoyonline.com <\/p>\n<p>2017-12-02<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/95782507.295.jpg\" alt=\"Ashigbey    MCAG\" title=\"Ashigbey    MCAG\" width=\"295\" height=\"223\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Kenneth Ashigbey, Convener of MCAG<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n<p>\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=151125817929577\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=151125817929577\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1512239440_62_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">The Media Coalition Against Galamsey (MCAG) has said the justice delivery system seems to be the weakest link in the fight against illegal mining popularly known as \u2018galamsey\u2019 in Ghana.<\/p>\n<p>The Coalition is of the view that the fines that are being imposed on perpetrators of the illegal act by the law courts are not strong enough to discourage people from engaging in \u2018galamsey\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Kenneth Ashigbey, Convener of MCAG, said this during the 6th Town Hall Meeting of the Coalition and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) held in Bole in the Northern Region.<\/p>\n<p>He said with the Minerals and Mining Act, Act 900, if a Ghanaian is found to have engaged in \u2018galamsey\u2019, he or she would be fined 2000 to 20,000 penalty units, adding that currently, a penalty unit was GHC 12,00 making it \u00a22,400.00 to \u00a224000.00 fine or up to a prison term of 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut we are seeing that the judges are just fining these people \u00a22,400.00\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n<p>The former Managing Director (MD) of the Graphic Communications Group Limited said for foreigners, the fine was 30,000 penalty units to 300,000 or up to a term of 20 years imprisonment.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Ashigbey said when Aisha Wang and four others were arrested by the Immigration authorities and brought to the court, charges preferred against them were only under the Immigration Act while they were suspected to have contravened the Minerals and Mining Act as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has to take a member of the Coalition, Occupy Ghana to Petition the Attorney-General (A-G) before a change was made\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n<p>In September, Operation Vanguard also arrested some four Chinese nationals who were suspected to have engaged in illegal mining and they were granted bail, then three days later the same four and one other person were found engaging in the same act, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen they were brought back to the court, the judge fined them \u00a22,400.00 but they were actually having \u00a260,000.00 with them at the court there, so immediately they asked that they should take the fine out of it and give them, their balance\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were expecting that a fine of \u00a2360,000 would have been given but the judge fined these Chinese \u00a22,400.00 which is definitely against the law\u201d, Mr Ashigbey said.<\/p>\n<p>The Convener of the MCAG said based on this observation, the Coalition has petitioned the A-G and the Chief Justice for them to look into the case so that justice was actually delivered and were enough to serve as a deterrent to discourage people from engaging in \u2018galamsey\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are asking the Chief Justice and the A-G to look into the sentences that are being handed over to these people so that we can have a strong justice delivery system to aid in the fight against galamsey in the country.<\/p>\n<p>The MCAG\/NCCE Town Hall Meeting was well attended by traditional rulers, farmers, staff of decentralised departments and agencies, students, the media and other members of the general public.<\/p>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 26 updated by: 26 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General News of Saturday, 2 December 2017 Source: Myjoyonline.com 2017-12-02 Kenneth Ashigbey, Convener of MCAG The Media Coalition Against Galamsey (MCAG) has said the justice delivery system seems to be the weakest link in the fight against illegal mining popularly known as \u2018galamsey\u2019 in Ghana. The Coalition is of the view that the fines that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":443118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-443117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Judiciary is a weak link in fight against \u2018galamsey\u2019 \u2013 Media Coalition Against Galamsey - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Judiciary is a weak link in fight against \u2018galamsey\u2019 \u2013 Media Coalition Against Galamsey - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"General News of Saturday, 2 December 2017 Source: Myjoyonline.com 2017-12-02 Kenneth Ashigbey, Convener of MCAG The Media Coalition Against Galamsey (MCAG) has said the justice delivery system seems to be the weakest link in the fight against illegal mining popularly known as \u2018galamsey\u2019 in Ghana. The Coalition is of the view that the fines that [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/02\\\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/02\\\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Judiciary is a weak link in fight against \u2018galamsey\u2019 \u2013 Media Coalition Against Galamsey\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-02T18:30:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/02\\\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":512,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/02\\\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/02\\\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/02\\\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/02\\\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\\\/\",\"name\":\"Judiciary is a weak link in fight against \u2018galamsey\u2019 \u2013 Media Coalition Against Galamsey - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/02\\\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/02\\\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-02T18:30:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/02\\\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/02\\\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Judiciary is a weak link in fight against \u2018galamsey\u2019 \u2013 Media Coalition Against Galamsey - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Judiciary is a weak link in fight against \u2018galamsey\u2019 \u2013 Media Coalition Against Galamsey - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"General News of Saturday, 2 December 2017 Source: Myjoyonline.com 2017-12-02 Kenneth Ashigbey, Convener of MCAG The Media Coalition Against Galamsey (MCAG) has said the justice delivery system seems to be the weakest link in the fight against illegal mining popularly known as \u2018galamsey\u2019 in Ghana. The Coalition is of the view that the fines that [&hellip;]","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Judiciary is a weak link in fight against \u2018galamsey\u2019 \u2013 Media Coalition Against Galamsey","datePublished":"2017-12-02T18:30:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/"},"wordCount":512,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/","name":"Judiciary is a weak link in fight against \u2018galamsey\u2019 \u2013 Media Coalition Against Galamsey - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2017-12-02T18:30:40+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/02\/judiciary-is-a-weak-link-in-fight-against-galamsey-media-coalition-against-galamsey\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}