Dr Anthony Aubynn, the CEO of the Petroleum Hub Corporation, has demanded that Legislative Instrument (LI) 2462, which governs certain facets of small-scale mining in Ghana, be completely repealed.
He made the case that the rule ought to be repealed and replaced with a new legal framework that is more appropriate for safeguarding the environment and efficiently regulating the industry during an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Monday, April 28.
Dr Aubynn said that the government is making headway in addressing the galamsey problem, but he issued a warning that it would be unjust to evaluate its work after only four months in power.
“I think the government is on course in the area of small-scale mining, even if you think that it has not been as fast as you expect. This problem has been age-old. It’s been here for a very long time, so four months is certainly too short a period for you to say that it [Mahama government] succeeded in addressing the challenge or not,” he said.
Dr. Aubynn strongly advocated for the repeal of LI 2462, pointing out that the statute permitted mining operations in forest areas.
“The LI 2462, I support the idea that it should be repealed. It should be completely repealed, and maybe a new law brought in. But if you read the law very carefully and compare it with the policy that existed before then, the danger associated with that law is the fact that it allows the minister to allow for mining in the forests,” citinfmonline.com quotes him as saying.
He added that previous regulations made mining in forested regions extremely restricted and challenging, but they did not completely outlaw it.
“In the old policies, it didn’t completely ban mining in the forests, but it made it such a difficult enterprise. There were only a few companies that had the concessions to mine in the forests,” he added.
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