Ghana Environmental Advocacy Group and A Rocha Ghana have petitioned the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, and the Inspector General of Police to detail the number of foreign nationals arrested for engaging in illegal mining in Ghana and their nationalities.
The two groups are worried over what they described as the lack of prosecution of foreigners engaged in galamsey.
Concerns were expressed in the petition by the Ghana Environmental Advocacy Group and A Rocha Ghana about reports by The Fourth Estate that only two of hundreds of Chinese nationals arrested for illegal mining from 2012 to date remain in Ghanaian jails.
“To read that those arrested end up quietly deported to their home countries with their loot without any further consequences while the state and local communities are left to reel under the weight of the environmental degradation they leave behind is both unconscionable and irresponsible,” the petition stated.
The two groups have among other things demanded that the Attorney and the IGP to share
a. Share with Ghanaians the number of foreign nationals arrested for engaging in
illegal mining in Ghana and their nationalities.
b. Number of those arrested that are currently in jail
c. Number of those who have been released and for what reason (s)
d. Number of those deported and under what conditions
e. Number of such deportees who have returned and
f. Measures that have been put in place to ensure that new people coming do not
engage in illegal mining in Ghana.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
