A law to empower the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to seize illegal mining (galamsey) equipment, as well as proceeds, will soon be passed, the sector Minister, Nii Osah-Mills, has announced.
He said a review of the current Mining Law would enable the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to stop the illegal mining challenge confronting the country.
Taking his turn at the Ministry of Communications-organised meet-the-press series on Tuesday, Mr Osah-Mills said the Cabinet had already given approval to proposed amendments to the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (703).
“The proposed amendments will ensure strict liability for offences committed under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703). The new provisions prescribe severe penalties for illegal mining (galamsey),” he said.
He added that the courts would be empowered to confiscate equipment used in illegal mining activities, as well as any minerals produced from such activities.
Stressing that the government regarded small-scale mining as legitimate business with the potential to reduce poverty, he said it, however, remained the exclusive preserve of Ghanaians who held licences obtained from and signed by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.
“Foreigners, by law, are not allowed to engage in small-scale mining in Ghana,” he stated.
Backlog of land applications
Touching on the achievements that had been chalked up under the Land Administration Project (LAP), Nii Osah-Mills said they included the clearing of a backlog of land applications and the establishment of customer service and access units (CSAUs) to increase access to land service delivery.
He said through a special mop-up exercise by the Lands Commission, applications that had been pending from 1988 to 2003, numbering over 43,314, had been cleared as of February 2015.
Explaining the reasons for the backlog, he said many of the documents, including applications for the registration of land, did not meet the requirements for further processing.
He also stated that CSAUs were being established in selected districts and regions to improve access to land service delivery, reduce bottlenecks in land registration and serve as a one-stop shop to reduce face-to-face contacts between clients and officers of the Lands Commission.
To deal with the high number of applications that did not meet the requirements, Mr Osah-Mills said: “The CSAUs will provide a checklist of the full requirements for title and deeds registration, the basis of which will determine further processing.”
Aside from that, he said, the ministry was working on eradicating the incidence of “Krokro boys” at the Lands Commission who picked people’s applications and tried to push them through.
Touching on underhand dealings by officials, he promised: “If we find anybody who we can show has done something wrong, we will sanction the person.”
Training of bamboo artisans
Nii Osah-Mills also said the ministry had identified a place at Ayi Mensah near Accra where it would relocate all cane and rattan weavers dotted over several places in Accra, saying the move would enable the ministry to offer training and tools to enhance the work of the artisans.
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