The Minority in Parliament has alleged that the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry has used over ¢10 million to organise a national dialogue on the government’s fight against small-scale mining also known as galamsey.
With the challenges posed by illegal mining to the mining industry, the Ministry organised a National Consultative Dialogue in Accra, Tamale and Kumasi on small-scale mining to solicit views, proposals and suggestions on how to deal with the threat of ‘galamsey’ in the country.
But speaking on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, the Deputy Ranking Member on the Lands Committee, Alhassan Suhuyini argued that the budget for the dialogue is outrageous, insisting misappropriation of funds by the ministry.
According to the Tamale North MP, the Ministry spent an amount of ¢2,140,000 on the national consultative dialogue in Accra, another ¢3.7 million on the dialogue held in the Northern and middle belt and another ¢5.4 million on Regional tours on illegal mining by the Ministry.
“All of these put together Mr. Speaker we are talking about more than ten conferences and dialogue and this is a document from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources during the consideration stage of the 2022 Budget statement. Mr. Speaker ¢10 million just on conferences and dialogue on how to fight Galamsey in this country. How does this impact the fight against Galamsey?” he quizzed.
GhanaFeed.com