The Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, has disclosed that the government is set to revoke the controversial Legislative Instrument (LI) 2462, which has been the subject of widespread public and political debate.
According to him, a new instrument — LI 2505 — has been prepared by his office and is scheduled to be laid before Parliament on October 14, when the House resumes sitting.
The Minister stated this at the dialogue organised at the presidency by President John Dramani Mahama with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and religious leaders.
“In terms of the legal steps, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources has underscored the fact that legal and regulatory reform is at the heart of what we are doing in order to change the narrative about illegal mining,” he said.
“The Minister and I have agreed that on the 14th of October, when Parliament resumes, we will lay that instrument to revoke the famous L.I. 2462.
“So, immediately it is laid, within 21 days it matures, and from that time onwards, we will not have L.I. 2462,” he stressed.
He added “One of the things we can do is to identify all the forest reserves and put them in a schedule attached to the bill, and make it categorically clear that no licence for mining activity, or lease for the conduct of mining, can be granted in respect of all the forest reserves listed in the statute”.
Meanwhile, the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has also posited that weak enforcement under the erstwhile Nana Akufo-Addo administration left illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, unchecked, with only 4% of 2023–2024 arrests leading to prosecution.
“And yet, law enforcement was weak,” the Minister lamented, emphasising the slow pace of investigations and prosecutions as a major setback in the government’s crackdown on illegal mining.
In 2023, 218 individuals were arrested, leading to just 24 prosecutions.
He added that in 2024, despite a significant increase in arrests — 627 individuals — only 11 cases were successfully prosecuted.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
