Professor Eric Abavare, the president of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) branch at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has proposed that the best way to defeat illegal mining, or galamsey, is through civil disobedience.
In an interview with Citi News, Prof. Abavare lamented the weakening enforcement of Ghana’s mining regulations and proposed that civil disobedience could be the solution if the current legal framework proves ineffective.
He went on to warn that illegal miners would pose an even bigger threat to the nation in the future if quick action is not taken.
“This call for me is not even banning, but I really call for civil disobedience. That is the only way we can salvage the situation because the laws don’t work anymore not that the laws are not good but I think the goodness of the law is its ability to solve the problem and so if the problem still persists, then it tells you that the laws are weak and inefficient and so one key thing is we need to scrap the law and I know many will disagree.
“But that is the only way because a key component of the law, which is the kings and the chiefs, who are supposed to be made culpable, I don’t know whether they are factored in there.
“And so the person [illegal miner] goes to the concession, he goes to the king, and then the rules are all in the concession. But the king, who is the mastermind, I don’t know how he is treated in there. And so we feel that for the laws to be effective and potent, the factors of the kings are crucial.”