Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor wants stiffer punishment for politicians, chiefs and kingpins behind illegal mining in Ghana.

Mr. Jinapor says dealing with such persons will go a long way to help the fight against illegal mining.

Speaking at the opening of a national dialogue on illegal mining in Ghana, Samuel Abu Jinapor said a lot more stringent actions must be taken to deal with the menace.

“How do we name, shame and punish politicians, chiefs, religious leaders and people with money and influence who are promoters of this criminal cartel in this industry?”

Another key question the minister was interested in was: “what kind of enforcement regime is required which bites and does so without fear or favour?”

The National Consultative Dialogue on Small Scale Mining, which will end today, April 15, 2021, is expected to come out with a communiqué on the solution to the illegal mining menace.

The forum has been a two-day roundtable discussion on challenges confronting the small-scale mining sector.

It has had inputs from key mining experts, the Small-Scale Mining Association, the Coalition of Civil Society Against Illegal Small-Scale Mining, among others.

Some stakeholders at the ongoing National Consultative Dialogue on Small Scale Mining have proposed the strict enforcement of mining laws as one of the solutions to the many problems in that sector.

Others called for the decentralisation of the issuance of mining lease and licence for small scale miners.