Former President John Dramani Mahama has promised to grant imprisoned illegal miners , a presidential amnesty if voted into office.
Addressing a party rally in Adum Banso of the Mpohor Constituency in the Western Region, John Dramani Mahama said it is ridiculous to have a foreigner engaged in the same illegal activity, released without any prosecution or fine but sentence “our very own people to these consequences.”
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He assured of making everything within his effort to get these people back to the fields to work in a more controlled environment as captured in their manifesto promise of restructuring the small scale sector to enhance the living standards of the locale.
“It’s sad. The government said it was fighting galamsey and they arrested, prosecuted, and jailed Ghanaians who were engaged in that activity but left the Chinese woman. Today, they are still in prisons. That Chinese galamsey-queen was arrested but left to go free. She was never prosecuted but our people are in jail suffering.
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“When we come, we shall grant all those arrested and jailed some amnesty. They will come back to their homes and work. I believe that they have suffered enough, shown remorse for whatever wrong they committed. We have instituted measures to check on the operations of small scale mining and this shall address all those issues that riddled the sector in years past,” Mr. Mahama clarified.
The Mpohor Constituency is known for galamsey operations. Deep in the forest, along the Pra River, these illegal miners undertake their alluvial mining, and thus damaging aquatic life. Over the past year, hundreds have been arrested by the District Anti-galamsey Taskforce, yet the illegal activity continues.