Organised Labour on Tuesday, October 1, will meet to decide on its planned nationwide protest against the fight to end illegal mining (galamsey).
Many unions had given their indication to protest at the end of September if the president failed to declare a state of emergency against the continuous destruction of rivers and forest reserves by illegal miners.
Their frustration stems from the lack of urgent government intervention in combating the crisis.
Speaking to Citi News about the development, the General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers Union, a body under the Trades Union Congress, Abdul Moomin Gbana, said Tuesday’s meeting will determine the way forward with their planned protest.
“The leadership of Organised Labour, after the notice that we sent and the demands that we put forward, we have agreed that we will meet hopefully on Tuesday, the 1st of October, to review all that has happened over the period and then consolidate our position on the way forward,” he said.
Mr Gbana noted that Organised Labour remains committed to safeguarding the environment and ensuring that the government takes stronger action to stop illegal mining, which continues to pose a serious threat to the country’s natural resources.
He added that: “I don’t think that organised labour in any way will deviate from our original plan. Our original plan holds. Hopefully, on Tuesday, I want to believe that it will be an endorsement of the plan that we put forward and, indeed, the demands that we have made on the president”.
Mr Moomin Gbana also chastised President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for failing to give a public comment during his address at the GJA awards night on Saturday, September 28.
“It is clear that the President is either overwhelmed with the whole illegal mining menace, It is either he is giving up on the fight, or he simply wants to tell the Ghanaian people that we cannot call the bluff on him. And it is one of the three and that is why Organised Labour is not relenting on this fight”, he said.
