General News of Tuesday, 4 February 2020Source: primenewsghana.comLack of prosecution hindering fight against 'galamsey' - Operation VanguardFile photo: An illegal mining siteCommander of the anti-'galamsey' operation task force Operation Vanguard wants a fast track court to be set up for speedy prosecution of illegal mining cases. Colonel William Nortey says the missing link in the fight against illegal mining is lack of prosecution which is thwarting the efforts of the task force. He says only about 5 per cent of over 2,000 illegal miners caught have been prosecuted. It will be recalled that, at the peak of the fight against illegal mining between 2017 and 2018, about five hundred earth-moving machines were seized by the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry. Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation and also Chairperson for the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), disclosed recently that most of the excavators that were seized from illegal miners had vanished.

Source: GhanaWeb February 04, 2020 16:41 UTC