A suggestion by the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Joseph Osei Owusu that security agencies should be given the power to shoot to kill persons involved in illegal mining (galamsey) is irresponsible, Dr Ahmed Jinapor, a lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba, has said.

According to him, stiffer punishments should rather be meted out to the galamsayers rather than shooting to kill those involved in the illegality.

Mr Osei Owusu had said shooting to kill the galamsayers is the only way to deter criminals from engaging in that act.

He said on the floor of Parliament that: “Sometimes we need to be strong on wrongdoers. We are pampering wrongdoers in this country too much…and they are not many anyway.

“Mr Speaker, we should stand by the military, Operation Vanguard and we should all stand together to ensure that our water bodies are clean and safe,” he added.

But commenting on this development on New Day on TV3 on Saturday, 17 March 2018, Dr Jinapor said: “If it is the case that… he really said that then that will be a variance with the kind of person that I know him to be.

“If it is the case, no matter what explanation is being given I'll deem it as an irresponsible statement because a person of this caliber, I doubt if that is the right prescription given relative to solving the galamsey menace.”

He added: “Stiffer punishment and not shoot to kill” will be the ideal thing to do.