<\/p>\n
The President of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, Rev. Prof. Paul Frimpong-Manso, has said the argument that people are actively engaged in illegal mining due to a lack of jobs should not be encouraged.<\/p>\n
According to the council, the lack of jobs should not be the reason for perpetuating illegality and causing environmental degradation.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Citi News<\/strong>, Rev. Frimpong Manso said \u201cwhat you are saying [with this argument] is that the end justifies the means, and if we do this, somebody will go and sell drugs because there are no jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we bring these kinds of things into our national discourse, then we are not aiming for development and progress,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The government has in the past few years launched and implemented strategies to help deal with the illegal mining problem and its effects on the environment.<\/p>\n But illegal mining has remained on the ascendancy as river bodies, forest reserves and farmlands have all been destroyed.<\/p>\n Rev. Frimpong-Manso also lamented the failure of institutions to strictly enforce mining laws.<\/p>\n \u201cThe institutions are not working,\u201d he complained.<\/p>\n Rev. Frimpong-Manso thus said a ban on all mining needed to be put in place \u201cuntil processes and procedures have been put in place.\u201d<\/p>\n