Accra, Sept. 18, GNA – The World Bank has
approved 50 million dollars to support the Government’s efforts at addressing
illegal small-scale mining under activities outlined in the Multi-Sectoral
Mining Integrated Project (MMIP).
The draft manual of activities would be
sponsored by the Bank and presented to its top management. The document is
expected to be approved for implementation within the next two weeks.
Mr Mamadou Barry, a Senior Mining Specialist,
Energy and Extractives at the Bank, made the disclosure when he led a
delegation to pay a courtesy call on Mr Kwaku Asoma Cheremeh, the Minister of
Lands and Natural Resources, at the Ministry in Accra.
“Our mission is to assist the Government of
Ghana in implementing the Multi-Sectoral Mining Integrated Project, which is to
address the illegal mining issue.
“We’re to design the project and gather
inputs, therefore, we have reached an agreement on the priority areas we would
support, and also agreed on the funding and implementation arrangements so that
we can start activities on the ground as quickly as possible,” Mr Barry stated.
Mr Cheremeh, on his part, expressed
appreciation to the Bank for acting quickly in approving the amount and, thus,
called on all other stakeholders that had pledged support in the past to redeem
their pledges.
“This is necessary because the environment is
being degraded, water bodies are being polluted with dangerous chemicals like
mercury, while our forests and other natural resources are being degraded,” he
said.
The Minister noted that while efforts were
underway to roll out the MMIP, government would continue implementing
alternative livelihood programme to prevent the nation from revisiting the dark
days of galamsey.
Mr Cheremeh refuted the assertion that the
activities outlined in the MMIP had been scraped from the Inter-Ministerial
Committee against Illegal Mining’s roadmap, noting that the MMIP had been
captured in the roadmap towards the lifting of the ban on small scale mining.
“There is no iota of truth that we have
disintegrated, just that we’re working from this Ministry, while the Committee
is operating from the Presidency, therefore, we’re all working towards
eliminating illegal mining in the system,” he said.
The Minister said the Government would welcome
new ideas and proposals from all stakeholders towards ensuring the successful
implementation of the roadmap.
“We’ll welcome everybody if the time is ripe
for the ban to be lifted, all ideas and suggestions would be considered,” he
said.
GNA