Galamsey: Small-Scale miners to protest against Organised Labour's call for ban on Oct 11

Accra, Ghana - October 9, 2024 - The Responsible Small-Scale Miners Association of Ghana has announced plans to stage a massive protest in Accra on Friday, October 11, 2024, in response to Organised Labour's industrial action calling for a ban on small-scale mining.

The association believes that Organised Labour's strike is politically motivated and not the solution to combating illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey.

According to Mark Conduah, General Secretary of the Responsible Small Scale Miners Association, the group acknowledges that some illegal miners have harmed waterbodies, but insists that shutting down legal small-scale mining operations is not the answer.

"We have communicated our concerns to Organised Labour, but they refuse to listen," Conduah stated in an interview with Citi News on Tuesday October 8, 2024.

Conduah emphasized that the association's members deserve to mine responsibly and earn a decent living, just like government payroll workers

“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,'' he stated.

Source: Lead News Online