The Executive Director of Kandifo Institute, Palgrave Boakye Danquah has called on government to develop a strong policy to prevent young people under 18 years from working with and for any mining firm in the country, be it legal or illegal.
He also called for the enforcement of the minerals and mining Act (2006) to the latter and stringent punishment for all persons who flaut the law. He said such persons must be severely prosecuted.
He also called on Government to institutionalize a zero-unemployment policy in Ghana. which will require All private and government agencies to take a % of the unemployed youth into employment.
Speaking in an interview with the New Crusading GUIDE, Mr Boakye Danquah said since Government is aware of the census and population of the country. “Can there be a policy to employ a higher percentage of young people in mining environments?
Government should bring a policy on creating economic activities in mining environments.
He made this known when the Kandifo Institute podcast Team j interviewed Mr. KabaNiakibe Lambert from Mangoro in Navrongo.
Kaba L ambert, a 29-year-old young man who has been a labourer in the Galamsey business for ten years began the Galamsey business right after Junior High School education in the year 2011 at age of 19. He was introduced to the galamsey business by his seniors in school. He joined the galamsey business because of the financial problems his family faced back at home. Mr. Kaba worked as a “lokko boy” to take care of his family and further his education. A lokko boy is one who chisels out the “raw material” (sand that contains the gold) on the galamsey site. He sometimes ignored his family because he always thought that something negative has happened to them. He mostly called a neighbor to ask of how everyone in the house is doing before calling his family.
He engaged in the two types of mining that is, surface mining, which is merely the method of extracting minerals near the surface of the Earth and underground mining, which is the method of extracting ore from below the surface of the earth safely, economically and with as little waste as possible. He worked in 13 different Galamsey sites; Prestia, Bordea, Nkakaa, Ataa ne Atta, Ewideaso, WassaAdea, Manso, Nkawie, Wenkyi, Tarkwa Dang, Damang, Subin and Nkoaransa.
Mr. Kaba Lambert, moved from town to town in order to make ends-meet. He faced a lot of dangers while working as a “lokko boy”. He lost a close friend and two cousins to Galamsey. He worked for Ghanaian employers and some chiefs in the towns mentioned above.
He spends close to 9 hours underground during the night for GHS 30 and GHS 5 for feeding per day. He saved up to GHS 5000 within the 10 years he was involved in the Galamsey business. This GHS 5000 is what he used to study as an animal scientist.
Kaba Lambert, stated that the miners do carry small arms on them for protection. In terms of protection against abusers. They had small arms such as; guns, tear gas, knife and cutlass. He also added that over 1000 youths can be found on the Galamsey sites and the age limit could be as low as 4 years and above, some even have this as their family occupation. He spoke about the use the excavators for collecting the load around the pits. In the Galamsey work, they had 3 groups of excavators; excavators owned by individuals: those who have worked or have been in the business for long; joint ownership (3 or more people): those who gather resources to buy; rent: companies rent out their machines and so (employees) pay for that service.
Kaba Lambert, mentioned that he was happy that he has stopped. However, it is not a good means of making money. Rather the youth should get involved in positive activities. He advised that if care is not taken, one can lose their life and ask that the youth delve into entrepreneurial programs to qualify themselves for the job market.
He concluded that if the youth does not participate in Galamsey, the Politicians, ghetto owners and chiefs will not have anyone to destroy the land and the water bodies and also save the human race.
