Yussif Sulemana, the Member of Parliament for Bole, is laying blames on the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR) and the Minerals Commission for granting concessions to foreigners to mine on their lands without consulting the indigenes.
The development has resulted in heightened tensions in the constituency, leading to a clash between in the area.
On Thursday, June 20, 2024, the constituency Vice Chair and Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) were allegedly brutalized by some soldiers allegedly providing security for some of these mining concessions.
The lawmaker, has been telling journalists in Parliament Friday, June 21, 2024 that if government doesn’t reconsider its mode of issuing permits to foreigners to mine on the land, the situation could be dire.
“From the beginning of my constituency, that is Bamboi, to the end of it, is full of mineral deposits, both right and left sides of the road. And so, of course, you have some galamsey –illegal mining –activities going on there.
“And the move was for us to regularize these small-scale miners so that they don’t destroy the environment. As I speak to you, only four mining, small-scale mining situations have been granted licenses. And so, majority of the youth are forced to continue with their galamsey business.
“The bottom line is that the minister responsible for land and natural resources must tell us why he’s apportioning the land to large scale miners without stakeholder engagement. Nobody’s saying that he doesn’t have the right. But the conditional arrangement, whatever that is in there, in the soil, okay, is being kept on behalf of the people by the president.
“And so the president can allocate land for activities. But in doing so, we have laws that have also asked that you do that with consultation with the stakeholders. That is what is lacking,” the MP explained.
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