Kweku Asoma Kyeremeh, the minister of lands and natural resources, has revealed that the pollution of water bodies in Ghana is as result of the recent rains.

According to him, illegal mining, also known as ‘galamsey’ has nothing to do with it.

YEN.com.gh understands that videos and images of some water bodies recently went viral, showing the deterioration of these water bodies despite the ban on illegal mining.

This has raised questions about the competence of the anti-galamsey task force's fight against galamsey.

However addressing journalists in Accra on Thursday, April 25th, 2019, the minister although some people are still engaging in illegal mining in some parts of the country, the task force has generally done a good job.

“There are some miscreants who still move about to do this illegal mining and do the washing into the river bodies but it is not as much as it used to be prior to 2016/2017.

Prior to the date the ban was put in place and after the ban was lifted, we saw some form of sanity and it is that sanity we are talking about today,” he said.

Per a report by Graphic.com.gh, pressure is mounting on the government to dissolve its Inter-ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, following what has largely been considered as a lost fight against illegal mining.

The latest to join numerous calls for the collapse of the government agency is the Artisanal and Small-scale Mining Africa Network (ASMAN).

The safe mining advocate wants the committee to be replaced with the yet-to-be-launched Multi-Sectoral Mining Integrated Project (MMIP).

The executive director of ASMAN, Nii Adjetey Mensah says until the inter-ministerial Committee hands over its mandate to the Minerals Commission and Lands and Natural Resources Ministry, the battle against illegal mining cannot be revived.