Former Afram Plains MP, Betty Nana Efua Krosbi Mensah, has identified unemployment among young people as one of the major factors driving illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, across the country.

She believes the fight against illegal mining cannot be won through enforcement alone, arguing that government must also tackle the economic challenges that push young people into illegal mining.

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Speaking on the Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV, Krosbi Mensah said successive governments have struggled to eliminate galamsey because the problem is closely linked to the desperation of the youth to make a livelihood.

“The whole cause of illegal mining largely rests on the lack of employment within our system. It’s an issue of unemployment, where everybody's going out there to find ways and means to make ends meet,” the former legislator said.

She stressed that government’s efforts to equip young people with skills and provide alternative economic opportunities could help reduce the canker.

“There is a situation where government is coming up with several programmes to ensure that young people are properly skilled, to boost their employability in other sectors,” she said.

Krosbi Mensah cited programmes including the Skills Development Programme and other government interventions designed to provide young people and women with opportunities outside the mining sector.

“All of this, I think clearly, is an indication or the government attempts to resolve issues of unemployment so that young people can be well-equipped and for them to abstain from issues or from illegal mining,” she added.

She also pointed to the creation of NIMOS as an institution mandated to strengthen monitoring and inspection within mining communities to curb galamsey.

“Again, the NIMOS has also been created so that there will be regular kind of monitoring and inspection within our mining communities to make sure that young people or people who are engaged in this illegal mining become a thing of the past,” she stated.

According to her, the government has made progress in its efforts to address the environmental degradation linked to illegal mining, despite admitting that the country is not yet out of danger.

“I can assure you that so far, so very good, but we are not out of the woods yet. Clearly, there's a lot of work to be done, but I can assure you that government is very committed to fighting issues of illegal mining,” she added.

NA/VPO

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