We’ll use Mahama’s meeting to push for solutions on galamsey – Ashigbey

The Convener of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey, Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, says civil society organisations will use their upcoming engagement with President John Dramani Mahama to demand concrete and lasting solutions to the galamsey menace.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, which was closely followed by Today.com.gh, Dr. Ashigbey, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Mines, revealed that the coalition had long awaited such an invitation from the Presidency.

“We have been waiting for this invitation, because the coalition had written to His Excellency, the President, and he had directed that we meet with the Minister in the first instance, and he was going to meet us. And we know that the Minister had reported back to him, so we’re expecting that,” he explained.

The meeting, scheduled for Friday, October 3, at the Jubilee House, is expected to gather more than 50 participants, including civil society leaders and government officials. Dr. Ashigbey admitted the size of the gathering came as a surprise but said the coalition would still take advantage of the opportunity. “The only surprise we got was the fact that over 50 or so people have been invited, and so it was going to really be a very large gathering,” he noted.

He stressed that the coalition would not use the platform to restate well-known problems about illegal mining. “Even we are not going into this meeting to go and articulate the problems.

We know very clearly what the problems are, and we know His Excellency knows what the problems are,” he said. Instead, he added, the focus would be on demanding clarity from the President on what success against galamsey would look like under his leadership.