The Responsible Small-scale Miners Association of Ghana has officially notified the Ghana Police Service of its plans to stage a protest on Friday, October 11, 2024. The protest is a direct response to Organised Labour’s industrial action, which is calling for a nationwide ban on small-scale mining as part of efforts to combat illegal mining, commonly referred to as galamsey.
The Association, while acknowledging the damage illegal miners have caused to waterbodies and the environment, firmly believes that Organised Labour’s stance on the matter is politically motivated and not the right approach to solving the issue. According to the Responsible Small-scale Miners Association, legal small-scale miners should not be penalized for the actions of illegal operators, and a blanket ban would unjustly impact their livelihoods.
In an interview with Citi News on Tuesday, October 8, Mark Conduah, the General Secretary of the Association, expressed the group’s frustration over the calls to end small-scale mining altogether. He emphasized that responsible miners, who comply with regulations, should not be grouped with illegal miners who have disregarded environmental standards.
“We have also communicated our minds to Organised Labour, and they are not willing to listen to us. So we are also coming out in our numbers to demonstrate against Organised Labour, that they are not more Ghanaians than us, so they cannot take away our livelihoods,” Conduah stated.
He further stressed that many members of the Responsible Small-scale Miners Association rely on mining as their primary source of income and have made efforts to conduct their operations in an environmentally responsible manner. For these miners, the actions taken by Organised Labour are seen as an attack on their right to earn a living through legal means.
“So we are going to demonstrate. We are going to show them that if they are working and earning their livelihoods from the government payrolls, we also deserve to mine and mine responsibly and earn a decent living out of mining,” Conduah added.
The protest, scheduled to take place in Accra, is expected to draw a large number of small-scale miners who feel threatened by Organised Labour’s push for a mining ban. The demonstration will serve as a show of force from the Association, as they seek to highlight the importance of small-scale mining as a legitimate and regulated industry in Ghana’s economy.
Organised Labour’s industrial action, which includes a strike scheduled for Thursday, October 10, has garnered significant attention in recent weeks. The strike aims to pressure the government into taking more drastic measures to curb illegal mining, which has caused widespread environmental degradation across the country, particularly in waterbodies. However, the Responsible Small-scale Miners Association contends that the strike is misguided, as it lumps all forms of mining together without distinguishing between legal, regulated operations and illegal activities.
The protest planned by the Responsible Small-scale Miners Association underscores the tension between various stakeholders in the debate over mining in Ghana. While there is a broad consensus that illegal mining, or galamsey, must be stopped to protect the environment, the question of how to balance environmental protection with economic livelihoods remains contentious. For the small-scale miners, the solution lies in better regulation and enforcement of existing laws, rather than an outright ban on their activities.
As the date of the protest approaches, all eyes will be on how the government and Organised Labour respond to the concerns raised by the Responsible Small-scale Miners Association. The Association’s members, many of whom have invested heavily in their operations, are determined to protect their right to mine legally and provide for their families. For them, the fight is not just about preserving jobs, but about ensuring that the legal mining industry is not unfairly targeted in the broader struggle against illegal mining.
The upcoming demonstration promises to be a significant event, with the potential to shape the ongoing debate over mining in Ghana. The Responsible Small-scale Miners Association is hopeful that their protest will force a reconsideration of the current stance taken by Organised Labour and lead to a more nuanced approach to tackling the galamsey issue—one that supports responsible mining while taking firm action against illegal operators.
