Former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, says he is not in a position to assess the performance of the current sector minister, Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah, on the country’s mining sector, especially the fight against illegal mining.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews, Mr Jinapor explained that since he did not appoint Mr Kofi-Buah, it would be inappropriate for him to offer a rating of his performance.
“I think the right person who will be rating him will be President Mahama. He appointed him, and he answers to President Mahama and ultimately the president will answer to the Ghanaian people, so I am not too sure it is in my mouth to rate him.”
“The second point is also that, if you have occupied an office and you have left, your immediate successor, you should be empathetic and understand the challenges of the office and perhaps be circumspect…,” he added.
However, the former minister expressed concern that the fight against illegal mining, commonly referred to as galamsey, remains ineffective.
He observed that forest reserves and water bodies across the country continue to suffer significant damage from illegal mining activities.
“I think there are certain concerns out there that the fight is not as successful as it should be, and the evidence is clear. Menace is still out there, the forest reserves of our country are still under attack, the river bodies of our country are not better, and clearly, there is a lot more that has to be done,” he said.
On the issue of the declaration of a state of emergency, he said, “The whole issue is consistency in terms of declaring the state of emergency and all that; these are matters that have come up.”
“It is one year gone; if you ask me a pointed question about whether the fight against illegal small-scale mining has been better, I will say a big no,” he said.
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