Paa Kwesi Schandorf, spokesperson for the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, has rejected claims that Ghana Gold Board Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi gave illegal miners blanket permission to operate without licences, insisting that his comments were about bringing miners under a regulated system.
Schandorf, who also serves as Media Relations Officer and Spokesperson for the Ghana Gold Board and the National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme (NAIMOS), said critics had interpreted Gyamfi’s remarks too literally without considering the broader objective of formalising artisanal and small-scale mining.
Speaking on the controversy, he maintained that Gyamfi was not authorising miners to move immediately onto mining sites without following the required procedures.
“I think it is not a blanket permission for everybody to proceed to go and mine without recourse to the rules,” Schandorf said in an interview on TV3.
Gyamfi had sparked controversy after comments suggesting that miners could operate outside restricted areas, including forest reserves and water bodies, while the government worked to formalise the sector.
Schandorf explained that the government’s objective was to bring miners into a regulated framework through the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP).
“The actual goal that is being communicated is that you see when you go to the mining communities, the problem that they face is that they do not have any active means of livelihood,” he said.
He noted that some mining communities had come to view mining itself as the only way out of their economic difficulties.
“And so there’s a mantra that is very popular within their jurisdiction that the way out of mining is actually mining,” he added.
According to Schandorf, the government’s approach is to allow miners to pursue opportunities within a formal regulatory structure rather than encourage unregulated mining.
“Government is now saying that, okay, we’re going to allow you to mine. But then, in doing that, we want to bring all of you under a very regulated ambit and jurisdiction. That is through the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme,” he said.
He stressed that Gyamfi’s reference to mining with or without a licence did not mean miners could immediately begin operations without approval.
“I am saying that when he says that they can mine without a licence, I’m saying that it is not an instantaneous permission for them to proceed and engage in the activity of mining,” Schandorf said.
He maintained that miners would still have to comply with the established procedures and obtain the necessary permission before undertaking mining activities.
