The Ghana Police Service has been formally notified by the Responsible Small-scale Miners Association of Ghana of their plan to hold a demonstration on Friday, October 11, 2024.
The demonstration is in reaction to an industrial action by Organised Labour, which is fighting illicit mining, often known as galamsey, by demanding a ban on small-scale mining.
The association accepts that certain illegal miners have seriously harmed waterbodies, but it feels that the strike by Organized Labor is politically driven and not the best way to address the threat.
The Responsible Small Scale Miners Association’s general secretary, Mark Conduah, stated in an interview with Citi News on Tuesday, October 8, that the organization is against any efforts by Organized Labor to close down their legitimate source of income.
“We have also communicated our minds to Organised Labour and they are not willing to listen to us. So we are also coming out in our numbers to demonstrate against Organised Labour that they are not more Ghanaians than us so they cannot take away our livelihoods.
“So we are going to demonstrate. We are going to show them that if they are working and earning their livelihoods from the government payrolls, we also deserve to mine and mine responsibly and earn a decent living out of mining.
“We are converging in Accra and there is going to be a massive demonstration against Organised Labour.”
