Paa Kwesi Schandorf has defended Ghana Gold Board Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi’s controversial comments on unlicensed mining, arguing that the word “can” was used to indicate a possibility rather than grant miners immediate permission to begin operations.
Schandorf, who serves as Media Relations Officer and Spokesperson for the Ghana Gold Board, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and NAIMOS, said critics had taken Gyamfi’s words out of their broader policy context.
He made the clarification while addressing the criticism surrounding Gyamfi’s remarks that miners could operate outside restricted areas, including forest reserves and water bodies, as the government pursued the formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining.
Schandorf said the interpretation that miners had been given immediate authorisation to operate without licences was incorrect.
“If I tell you, for example, that you can become a lawyer, I am not immediately urging you to move into a courtroom,” he said in an interview on TV3.
“The use of the word ‘can’ is not express permission. It is an indication of a possibility,” he added.
He argued that Gyamfi was referring to the possibility of miners entering the regulatory framework of the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme, also known as rCOMSDEP.
“So what the CEO was saying is that with or without a licence, they can, in the sense that they can come under the regulatory ambit of the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme,” Schandorf said.
He maintained that miners would still have to obtain the necessary permission and comply with established procedures before beginning mining operations.
“Within the context of the CEO’s submission, it was an indication of possibility, possibility in the sense that outside of those areas that are forbidden, the small-scale miners can mobilise, come under the regulatory ambit of rCOMSDEP and then proceed to do the mining, but of course, that will be with recourse to the permission being granted in any case,” he said.
Schandorf said the distinction was important because Gyamfi’s comments were not intended to encourage miners to enter any location they considered suitable and begin operating.
“The interpretation is too literalist,” he said, arguing that critics had focused on the specific wording rather than the intended policy objective.
