Minister for Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, has announced that henceforth, all equipment used for illegal small scale mining, commonly known as galamsey, that would be found on such mining sites would be seized, burnt to ashes or destroyed through other means but OccupyGhana has cautioned that the Minister’s directive constitutes gross illegality.

The social and political non-partisan pressure group, has said that it is illegal for government to burn or destroy such seized equipment and that there are already properly laid down regulations on how such seized equipment should be handled.

The group, through a statement, expressed utter shock called on government to stop using illegality to stop another illegality because two wrongs do not make a right.

The statement said OccupyGhana is “shocked to see pictures and films in which equipment allegedly being used in Galamsey operations and apparently seized by security officials, have been set on fire. While these dramatic optics might have the support of some, we think that it is a brazen illegality that will only exacerbate the situation and not help in the fight against Galamsey.”

The statement continued that “the government’s epileptic and faltering fight Galamsey gives the impression that it is unwilling to follow and apply the law.

"When Aisha Huang was first arrested, she was charged with some ludicrous, risible and insignificant administrative breaches of immigration regulations. It took a protest and a petition by OccupyGhana on 16th May 2017 for her to be charged with the proper offences under the Minerals and Mining Act, which, as we will show, provides for serious punishment for illegal mining. We believe that her quiet and hurried deportation by government was to avoid subjecting her to the full rigours of the law. We insist that that unfortunate truncation of the judicial process sounded the death knell to the Galamsey fight.

"But the law in the Minerals and Mining Act is clear. There is a fine and imprisonment between 15 and 25 years for each of the following crimes: buying or selling minerals without a license or authority; mining in breach of the law; abetting any breach of the mining law;  contracting a non-Ghanaian to provide mining support services; abetting the breach of the mining laws by a foreigner; fabricating or manufacturing floating platforms or other equipment to be used for mining in our water bodies, and providing an excavator for an illegal mining operation.”

It said the Act further provides that a non-Ghanaian who illegally mines or abets illegal mining attracts a large fine and imprisonment between 20 and 25 years, and shall be deported AFTER serving the sentence.

This, OccupyGhana said, is what should have been applied to Aisha Huang.

“Also, and of particular importance to us, is the legal provision that equipment used in any of these offences is required to be first seized and kept in police custody. Then, when the person using the equipment for the illegal mining activity is convicted, the court will order the forfeiture of the equipment the state. Then the Minister has 60 days within which to allocate the equipment to a state institution. There is absolutely no legal room for simply torching the equipment. It is illegal and must stop forthwith.

“We think that all the efforts to end illegal mining will not achieve anything until we resolve to simply enforce the law. If the security agencies make arrests and the law is not applied, it weakens their resolve and says to all that we are not serious about ending this menace. And the judiciary should need no encouragement to try cases with dispatch so that Ghanaians can see results in real time. It cannot be business as usual.

“We have two simple messages for the government –(1) Galamsey is illegal: the fight against it cannot be based on illegality and, (2) If you want to win the fight against Galamsey, APPLY THE LAW”, the statement added.