The Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has promised to bring drastic changes to the mining sector that would make the sector more beneficial to Ghanaians, if he wins the pending December 7, 2024, general elections.

According to Dr. Bawumia, under his tenure, the majority of the mining concessions in Ghana will be given to Ghanaian small-scale miners.

The vice president said that the main focus of his government for the mining sector would be to make Ghanaian small-scale miners very rich, myjoyonline.com reports.

"We will allocate the mining concessions to the small-scale miners. My primary focus is to make many small-scale miners millionaires and multi-millionaires. I want to support our small-scale miners," he is quoted as having said while addressing small-scale miners and youth groups at Tarkwa on the last day of his campaign tour of the Western Region.

The NPP flagbearer said that rather than chasing small-scale miners and seizing their equipment, his government will put measures in place to regularize their activities and give them the needed support.

"We will formalize the small-scale mining regime and give them a license. Everybody will register with the Small-Scale Miners Association with their Ghana card, and we will deepen the representation of the Minerals Commission and the EPA, and make sure that the districts that don't have representatives, we will give them some," he said.

He also said chiefs would play a very essential role in the issuing of mining licenses to miners in their communities.

He also said that under his presidency, the mining laws of the country would be amended to allow for the decentralization of important mining agencies like the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

BAI/AE

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