Involve Water Resources Commission in licensing small scale mining companies – GWCL boss
Managing Director of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Dr. Clifford Braimah, has advocated the involvement of the Water Resources Commission in the fight against illegal mining in Ghana.
According to him, this will strengthen the inter-agency efforts being employed to deal with the menace.
Speaking in an interview with Samson Lardy Anyenini on NewsFile on Saturday, he explained that, the Water Resources Commission is a critical agency, whose mandate cannot be ignored if the fight against ‘galamsey’ will succeed.
He however noted that the Commission is currently under-resourced, hence the need for it to be retooled.
“For us in Ghana Water Company, we take the resource itself to produce water for citizens. But we do not have the role or the power to monitor the water bodies. It is the Water Resources Commission.
In all these activities that we’re carrying out, at what position have we placed the Water Resources Commission? Have you gone to the Water Resources Commission to look at even the offices they work in?”, Dr Braimah quizzed.
He added: “I think that for us to be able to fight this menace, Water Resources Commission must be strengthened adequately to give them the necessary power to do what they have to do, and then resource them adequately”.
The suggestion by the GWCL boss adds to the recent recommendations from stakeholders on how to deal with ‘galamsey’ in the country.
Over the last couple of weeks, the menace of ‘galamsey’ has been a topical issue, following the re-emergence of galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang.
The Chinese lady, who was reportedly deported from Ghana in 2018, was rearrested in Kumasi on September 5.
Her latest arrest rekindled the conversation about illegal mining and the complicity of government officials in the act.
But reacting to these rife allegations, government has consistently debunked them, insisting that it is committed to dealing with the menace.
Meanwhile, the ‘galamsey’ queen, Aisha Huang, is currently in prison custody, after she and her accomplices were denied bail on Thursday, September 15.
They will however appear in court on September 27.
