The establishment of a specialized court to adjudicate land guard cases may become necessary for Ghana due to legal bottlenecking that cripples the crackdowns on illegal mining and violent property disputes, the Interior Minister and Asawase MP, Hon. Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, has indicated.
Responding to parliamentary inquiries today, Hon. Muntaka clarified that law enforcement bodies, in tandem with the Attorney General’s Office, have ramped up both apprehensions and legal actions.
“I clearly stated that we have intensified the arrest and prosecutions. And we’ve been leading with the Attorney General’s Office,” he told the House.
While operations have been scaled up, the Minister acknowledged that sluggish judicial proceedings are actively sabotaging these enforcement strategies.
“Except to also admit sometime the court delays… the delay sometime weakens the security agencies in their effort to get this done,” he said. “The best we are able to do is to present them before the court.”
He emphasised that individuals apprehended with dangerous implements, such as machetes, are facing formal charges.
“Many that have been seen even with cutlass have been prosecuted for the use of it,” he added. Furthermore, security crackdowns have successfully disrupted numerous syndicates tied to illicit mining activities.
Hon. Muntaka expressed reservations about setting up bespoke tribunals for every type of infraction, noting that the nation already utilizes dedicated judicial divisions for narcotics and illicit mining. “I don’t like to be saying that Mr Speaker that we may have to create special court for almost everything. Well now we have special court for drugs. We have special court for galamsey,” he said.
“But the way that it’s going maybe we may have to create a special court for land guard because the police have created units in almost all the prone areas.”
The Minister revealed that specialized anti-galamsey squads have been deployed to high-risk zones to deal exclusively with the crisis. When suspects are caught armed, the state levies multiple offenses against them.
“Sometime when we get the weapons with them we see them we charge them on multiple grounds. One, on the anti-galamsey act… and then unlawful possession of weapons,” he explained.
Reiterating that security forces are highly proactive, Hon. Muntaka maintained that slow-moving prosecutions remain the primary roadblock.
“So that’s the only challenge. Other than that yes they are up to a touch and we see the weapons.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
