The Vice President of Imani Africa, Kofi Bentil, has alleged that 85% of gold purchases by the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) are from illegal mining.
He cited published research work as the source of his information.
“We continue to buy gold from illegal miners who constitute 85% of small-scale miners and yet we claim we are fighting Galamsey,” he said on TV3’s The KeyPoints on October 11.
Mr Bentil said this while contributing to discussions on the fight against galamsey.
His concern is that government is not doing much to fight the menace.
“When I declined to attend the President’s meeting with civil society organisations, I posted my suggestions on Facebook. One, is that we should dismiss all DCEs whose areas have galamsey taking place. If I don’t see DCEs being sacked, I will not believe President Mahama is serious about fighting galamsey,” he stressed.
However, the Chief Executive Officer of the GoldBod, Mr Sammy Gyamfi denied the assertion that 85% of his outfit’s gold purchases are from galamsey.
“The Goldbod doesn’t buy gold from illegal miners. We only deal with licensed small-scale miners. GoldBod does not buy gold directly from small scale miners,” he called into the programme to discredit the claim.
Mr Sammy Gyamfi, nonetheless, acknowledged that because they buy gold through licensed agents, he cannot say if any of these agents buy from illegal sources.
He assured that GoldBod is in the process of implementing a traceability scheme that will ensure that only gold from legitimate sources is purchased by his outfit.
The Minister for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, reiterated government’s commitment to buy gold from licensed miners.
“There is no government policy to purchase gold from illegal miners. If for nothing at all, the international community is very interested in the source of our gold,” he assured.
Source:Lovinghananews.com
