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Gov’t to deploy river guards, navy to fight galamsey – Lands Minister

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has disclosed that the government will soon announce some major interventions it will deploy in its attempts to fight illegal mining, commonly called galamsey.

Mr. Jinapor in an interview with Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM on Tuesday, October 8, said the government’s meeting with Organised Labour on its planned October 10 strike was “very productive and fruitful” and that the measures to curb the menace will commence with the repeal of LI 2462, a legislative instrument that currently permits mining in forest reserves.

He said, “Consensus was reached that the government will take steps to repeal LI 2462 when Parliament resumed and also ensure the expeditious trial of offenders. Be it as it may, the government took notice of the announcement [of Organised Labour] that went on yesterday [Monday] but there are some other interventions that we are working on and they will be made known in the coming days. River guards and the navy will be patrolling our river bodies, with other interventions.”

The minister also said agriculture is the leading driver of deforestation and not mining but the government is determined to fight the galamsey menace so the impression should not be created as though the fight against the destruction began with the pressure from Organised Labour weeks ago.

According to him, “The number one driver of deforestation is agriculture and that is not to suggest mining does not do the same. Mining on river bodies is banned and they are red zones mining is not permitted 100 meters away from our waterbodies and we are even planning to make it 200 meters small-scale mining is also not permitted in forest areas.”

“The impression should never be created that we are just waking up to take action against this menace. Operation Halt has been happening almost every fortnight and we are going to intensify that,” he concluded.

Source: Citinewsroom.com

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Committee probing petitions against Chief Justice to begin hearings tomorrow

The Committee set up by President John Dramani Mahama to inquire into three petitions filec against the Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, will commence hearings tomorrow, Thursday May 15, 2025.

The five-member Committee chaired by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang of the Supreme Court, was set up by the President in accordance with Article 146(6) of the 1992 constitution and in consultation with the Council of State, following a determination of a prima facie case against the Chief Justice.

The committee will sit three times a week and present their recommendations to the President upon completion of their work.

It would be recalled that President John Dramani Mahama recently suspended Chief Justice following the establishment of a prima facie case in response to three separate petitions seeking her removal from office.

News

38-year-old man gets life imprisonment for killing Assemblies of God pastor in 2018

After close to seven years of trial, a seven-member jury on Wednesday, May 14, returned a guilty verdict in the murder case involving the killing of the Senior Pastor of the Central Assemblies of God church at Tema in 2018.

The convict, Francis Nabegmado, a relative of the deceased, inflicted a fatal knife wound on Rev. Dr. David Nabegmado on December 30, 2018, after alleging that the senior pastor was a false preacher who engaged in idol worship and human sacrifices.

After an hour of summing up by the judge, Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, the jury retired briefly and returned with a unanimous guilty verdict.

Based on the unanimous verdict of the jurors who had previously studied the statements of the five witnesses called by the prosecution, and listened to the summing up process, the judge sentenced the 38-year-old to life imprisonment.

When he was offered an opportunity to comment on the verdict, the convict told the judge that he wanted to go home to meet his family.

“My Lady, I want to see my family, and I want to be taken to Yendi”.

When the judge told him she couldn’t make such an order for him to go and see his family in Yendi, the convict forcefully said, “I insist”.

Francis, who will now spend the rest of his life at the Nsawam medium security prison, had told the court throughout the trial that the decision to attack his uncle, Rev. Nebegmado, was driven by insanity, but that did not save him from receiving a life sentence.

Speaking briefly after the sentencing, Senior Pastor of the Assemblies of God church at Tema Community 4, Rev. Emmanuel Kwesi Ofori, said the church has been waiting for this closure for the past seven years and will soon issue an official statement.

Source: Myjoyonline.com