Government is committed to flushing out illegal miners – Jinapor

Minister for Lands and Natural Resource, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has asserted that, the Government through his Ministry has been implementing several measures to tackle illegal mining in the country’s Forest Reserves by foreigner nationals and Ghanaians.

He mentioned the measures to include regular patrolling of the Forest Reserves by the Forestry Commission, protection and maintenance of internal and external boundaries of Forest Reserves, awareness creation and stakeholder sensitization, decommissioning and demobilization of equipment used for illegalities in the Forest Reserves, destruction of illegal farms, arrest and prosecution of forest offenders, including foreigners.

“When it comes to illegalities in the Forest Reserves of our country, there is no distinction between nationals and foreigners” and “the Forestry Commission has been working to cordon off all the Forest Reserves of our country to rid them of all forms of illegalities, and these measures are yielding some results, although we are not out of the woods yet”.

The Minister who was responding to a question in Parliament from the MP for Prestea Huni-Valley, Robert Wisdom Cudjoe, however, add that, the issue of foreigners engaging in illegalities in the country is not solely the responsibility of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

“As I have said on countless occasions, law enforcement is a matter, largely, within the remit of the security agencies established under the laws of our country.

“There is the need to take a comprehensive look at how these foreigners enter the country, the reasons why they come, and the nature of businesses they engage in. These are matters that are, largely, beyond the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources. We will continue to work with relevant agencies to ensure that the Forest Resources of our country are protected for posterity,” he noted.

By Edzorna Francis Mensah