The President of the Institute for Security, Disaster and Emergency Studies, Dr. Ishmael Norman, says while he applauds OccupyGhana for demanding that the President, Akufo-Addo, declares a state of emergency in galamsey affected areas, he knows the President will not do so.
According to him, declaring a state of emergency would demand that the President go to Parliament once in a while to seek permission from, and also give account to, the House on why the state of emergency needs to be maintained, a situation the President would most likely avoid.
He has thus advised that Occupy Ghana go a step further and bring lawsuits to the individual district assemblies where galamsey is currently being practiced.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Dr. Norman said, “I think OccupyGhana has done well for asking for a state of emergency declaration, but I know the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo is not going to do it because he will have to go to Parliament once in a while for permission to continue to hold the state of emergency, and he will also have to account to Parliament what is happening.
“That is why Covid-19 was not declared under state of emergency but some convoluted arrangement which was totally not consistent with our laws. Now OccupyGhana can go a step further. Apart from the general security of the country, we’re talking about human security here.
He added that, “OccupyGhana under Environmental Liability law and I think even under Tort law, can bring a lot of lawsuits against district assemblies. The DCEs, and the district assemblies where this degradation is going on because what they have done is not only criminal but it’s also crimes against humanity in the communities that the mining is going on.
“I believe that they also have to compel the district assemblies because our President is not ready to do that. So they should use the legal system.”
Concerning farmers that have lost their livelihood to the activities of illegal miners in their communities, Dr. Norman said the government has a responsibility to give them cash compensations.
He explained that this is because it is due to the government’s inadequacies that the farmers have lost their livelihoods to galamsey.
“As for the farmers that have lost their livelihood, this government should find money to give them; real cash to compensate them and to put them where they would have been if the destruction had not gone on, because if the government had not been negligent, this kind of destruction would not go on,” he said.
Commenting on how the national security apparatus facilitates the activities of galamsey miners in the country, he noted that the government in power has mismanaged the civilian-military relationship such that the security services are unable to check the menace as it unfolds in communities across the country.
He added that as a result, the security apparatus is dead and has only been engaging in brutalities against innocent civilians.
“Yes the armed forces are there, the police are there, the immigration is there but if the civilian-military relationship is being mismanaged by the civilians who are in charge, and I’m talking about the current government, the military, the police, the immigration, the services, they cannot do anything,” he said.
