Member of Parliament for Gomoa Central, Kwame Asare Obeng, popularly known as A Plus, believes that merely naming and shaming influential people involved in illegal mining will not solve the problem.
According to him, it is about time persons involved in illegal mining are brought to book regardless of their social standing.
His comment comes on the back of the minister’s claim that any political person who gets in his way in the fight against galamsey will be named and shamed.
According to A Plus, the fight against galamsey will only be successful, if the financiers and “big men” involved in the illegality are jailed.
Making his opinion known in a post shared via social media, he said “The rich and powerful may be named and shamed, but the poor laborers working at illegal mining sites are the ones who get arrested and jailed. If naming and shaming is truly enough, why not apply the same to those who steal goats, cassava, and chickens?
“Why are they sent to jail instead? If we believe public disgrace is sufficient punishment, then let’s abolish the Criminal Offences Act, shut down all prisons, and just name and shame all criminals equally. Or are prisons only meant for the poor and young men from Zongo communities?”
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