Members of the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners (GNASSM) have called for the immediate resignation of their executives, citing mismanagement and disregard for the welfare of the association.

In a statement, the members accused the executives of running the association without accountability or adherence to constitutional provisions since their election four years ago.

The statement highlighted multiple grievances, including failure to account to members, exploitation for personal gain, and ineffective leadership that has led to stagnation within the association.

The members specifically accused the leaders of “allocating 30 out of 90 concessions designated for national distribution to certain executives, gross disregard for the general membership, exhibiting unprecedented levels of greed and ineffective leadership disintegrating the association.”

The members expressed frustration with the current happenings.

“How can you move forward if you are unable to meet to discuss plans or even review plans that have been discussed to shape your actions? We are therefore by this statement demanding the immediate removal of our executives to step aside for an interim team to take over to reorganize the association.”

The small-scale miners believe that without accountable leaders, their efforts to combat illegal mining and address internal challenges will be futile.

“With these leaders, our quest to have a sanitised and united front to deal with the challenges our association faces especially with illegal miners who do not belong to us, will be a fight in vain,” the statement read.

They have called on the Minerals Commission to intervene and have issued a two-week ultimatum for action.

“We as a group should be leading the fight against illegal mining, but if we do not have accountable leaders, this fight will be lost. We will take further steps if our call for emergency elections to remove our current executives is not adhered to in two weeks,” the members added.