Godfred Yeboah Dame
The Government has presented to Parliament an instrument to revoke the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) (Revocation) Instrument. (L.I. 2462) which regulated mining in forest reserves in Ghana.
The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, in a letter dated October 10, 2024, presented the revocation instrument to the Clerk of Parliament to be laid in accordance with the constitution.
In accordance with Article 11(7) of the Constitution, the Instrument comes into effect after 21 sitting days of Parliament unless same is annulled by the votes of two-third of members of Parliament.
The revocation of the controversial L.I. was one of the demands of Organised Labour to call off an industrial strike, which Government acceded to.
L.I.2462 which was enacted on June 23, 2022, allows mining in forest reserves.
It derives its authority from Section 62(1) of the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994 (Act 490), which empowers the minister responsible for the environment to make regulations generally for, among other things, giving effect to the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994 (Act 490).
L.I. 2462 is specifically designed to address the environmental aspects of mining activities within forest reserves.
But various individuals and groups have expressed reservations about the passage of the instrument in the face of the devastating wreckage illegal mining (galamsey) is causing in some parts of the country.
Some environmentalists have also called on the government to withdraw the L.I. to protect the forest reserves.
Stakeholder organisations in the environment and forestry space, including Nature and Development Foundation (NDF), A Rocha Ghana, Wacam and OXFAM recently stated that the regulation was retrogressive and laden with what they described as “sinful provisions.”
The Ghana Mine Workers Union of the Trades Union Congress had also described the passage of the regulation as the most backward legislation ever passed by Ghana’s Parliament.
General Secretary of the Mine Workers Union, Abdul Moomin Gbana, in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM called for the revocation of the regulation and suggested the establishment of specialised courts as part of efforts to win the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.
Just last month, the Research Staff Association (RSA) and the Research Scientists Association (RSA) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) called on Parliament to reconvene and revoke the regulation.
Member of Parliament for Asante-Akim North Constituency in the Ashanti Region, Andy Appiah-Kubi, recently stated that parliamentarians failed in their duty by not impressing on Parliament to reject the L.I. 2462.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak