Military is trained for war and not ‘galamsey’ – Concerned Small Scale Miners

The National Concerned Small-Scale Miners Association of Ghana (NCSSMAG), says the military is not equipped to fight the menace of illegal mining.

President of the Association, Michael Kwadwo Peprah, argues the military has been used by successive governments to fight galamsey but have achieved no success, a failure he attributes to the use of wrong tactics.

“The military is not trained to fight the menace of galamsey but for war. If you’re not using the right tactics you will fail. To win the fight against galamsey you need to understand the problem and that is why people engage in galamsey,” he told Don Kwabena Prah on Happy98.9FM’s ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ political talk show.

According to him, until the bottom-up approach is adopted in the fight against galamsey, the government will keep on failing in ending the menace. He charged the government to involve the various district assemblies, as it is the only way to win the fight against galamsey.

News on the ongoing fight against galamsey always reports on the seizure of mining equipment and weapons used by these illegal miners, but nothing is mentioned on the seizure of gold. This has led many to believe the military men and security officials deployed as part of the taskforce to fight the menace end up benefitting from galamsey operations, lining their pockets.

With this development, it is believed the country will not win the fight against galamsey no matter how many military men and security officials are deployed to mining communities.