The Media Coalition Against Galamsey and OccupyGhana has added its voice to reports of a company expressing interest in mining within the Kakum Forest Reserve in the Central Region.
Although the Minerals Commission indicated in a statement that it had rejected the application from the company, the groups raised concerns over the Commission’s inability to disclose the type of application and whether other applications had been made to other related agencies.
“We have noted the Minerals Commission’s undated letter, which said that indeed they had received such an application but had rejected it. That press release did not state whether the application was for a reconnaissance or prospecting licence or mining lease, or whether this High Street Company had acquired other permits from either the Forestry Commission or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),” the Media Coalition Against Galamsey and OccupyGhana said in a joint statement on Friday, November 11, 2023.
The groups expressed dissatisfaction with the statement from the Minerals Commission because, according to them, other companies have carried out our mining operations in forest reserves with permits purportedly from either the Forestry Commission or the EPA.
Accordingly, they called for a law by parliament to totally ban mining in forest reserves, regardless of a permit issued by any government agency.
“We believe that Ghana needs a simple legislative fiat that says, ‘WE DO NOT MINE OR DRILL IN OUR FOREST RESERVES.’ We therefore invite Parliament, as a matter of urgency, to pass an Act that forbids the grant of any mining or drilling permit, licence, or lease or any other associated activities in all forest reserves and significant biodiversity areas.”
This move, the groups observed, would revoke the present Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations (LI 2462).
The Media Coalition Against Galamsey and OccupyGhana also advised that “any decision on the cessation of forest reserves should be first on the advice of the Forestry Commission and Lands Commission, and second with the approval of Parliament after a public hearing and engagement with chiefs and people of the area in question.”
According to them, this will serve as a check on the exercise of any discretionary decisions in relation to the cessation of forest reserves by the Executive.
