The Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners (GNASSM) has called on its members to be vigilant and report activities of unauthorized task force parading mining sites all in the name of coming from the National Security.
According to the association, the call to expose unauthorized operatives follows a directive from the minister in charge of lands and natural resources that unauthorized operatives claiming to be coming from the security outfit should be reported immediately.
It could be recalled that the minister for lands and natural resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, after deploying the 200 ‘Operation Halt’ team noted that they were the only authorized task force to stop activities of illegal small-scale mining in the Red Zones.
But speaking on the issue to A1 Radio, the Secretary to Ashanti Chapter of GNASSM, Michael Adu Gyamfi commended the sector minister for showing leadership and called on their members to be vigilant.
According to Mr. Adu Gyamfi, “We are going to quell their activities on all fronts. We have had enough of their extortion and intimidation.”
He stressed that in time past they had similar incidents where some group of men will claim that they are from the National Security and at the end extorting members of their money.
“I want to entreat our members to not hesitate to report to the association of any person or group who might come all in the name of being national security but are not. As we all set the agenda of protecting our lands and water bodies, let’s be circumspect of such looters who might want to take that as an advantage to enrich themselves.”
Source: A1Radioonline.com| 101.1 MHz| Moses Apiah| Ghana
