The Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners has said that their compliance to the ban directive from government in 2017 was an act of sacrifice that has yielded benefit for the country.

In March 2017, the government placed a ban on illegal mining following a wave of media campaign on the menace that has left many water bodies polluted and farmlands with deep trenches.

Speaking on Anopa Kasapa, the Director of research and development of the Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners, Mike Gizo, told host Kwaku Owusu Adjei a.k.a Pato that their great sacrifice is to see Ghana reclaim its farmlands and populated water bodies.

“Ghana benefited from the ban on illegal mining, the benefits are many but those of us in the mining industry have really suffered. But all the same we are all citizens of the country and we have sacrificed for this country, if we make all the money in the world and we do not have good water to drink, what will it profit us” he said.

The dates for the lifting of the ban have been postponed more than three times.

Recently, the former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr John Peter Amewu, stated that not until there was permanent improvement in the country’s water bodies, the ban would not be lifted.

The government’s decision has over the period attracted backlash from small-scale miners who insist that they had licence and operated within the legal environmental requirements and that their rights had been trampled upon. As a result, many have been rendered jobless.