Illegal Chinese miners having field day – NPP MP

The Member of Parliament for Manso Nkwanta Joseph Albert Quarm has expressed disappointment in the commitment of state agencies in fighting the galamsey menace in the country.

According to the legislator, there are still Chinese mining illegally in his constituency despite numerous reports he has personally lodged with the Operation Vanguard Anti-Galamsey force.

“I am a member of parliament for Manso Nkwanta constituency specifically Amansie West District and even right now when you come to my constituency, there are some pockets of Chinese workers,” he told Ultimate Breakfast Show host Julius Caesar Anadam.

He lamented, “We have reported to operation vanguard several times. You see them making rounds and causing arrests but when you come back, you will still see the same Chinese people there. This is the challenge we are going through.”

Mr. Quarm called for the speedy deployment of Mining Guards to replace the Operation Vanguard Military detachment which he insists has lost its integrity to fully halt the galamsey menace.

He also called for more Minerals Commission offices to be created and manned with Geologist and mining engineers to decentralize and better monitor processes of licensing and operating mining sites across all mining districts in the country.

In the same Amansie West district, three persons died in a galamsey pit with two others hospitalized at the Manso Government Hospital last week.

The National Disaster Management Organisation boss in the Ashanti region Kwabena Nsenkyire threatened to expose persons behind the illegal mining business in the region expressing concern with the number of distress calls they were receiving from mining areas.