In an effort to clamp down on foreign nationals who are into illegal mining and thus destroying water bodies, the Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery has urged Landlords and tenants to report such persons to the appropriate quarters to be dealt with.
The minister’s concern was in response to claims that the influx of foreigners in illegal mining across the country was a major setback in the fight against galamsey.
He was speaking to the media during the opening of a three-day conference for regional commanders of the Ghana Immigration Service at Koforidua in the Eastern region.
Mr Dery said the best approach to tackling the menace is for all stakeholders to cooperate with the security agencies in rooting out such persons.
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“We will call on landlords, tenants and everybody who knows any foreigner who is into illegal mining to report them, let us expose them in order to rid the system off these foreigners. They are the very people we stay with, they have rented our rooms and houses and we know the kind of jobs they do so let’s report them to the appropriate quarters,” he stated.
The conference was also attended by some commanders of sister security agencies including, the Police, Prisons, CEPS and the Ghana National Fire Services.
It was under the theme: “Responding to the Evolving National Security Threats in the Era of Covid-19”.
The minister noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has become a national security threat that requires all efforts to control it.
The Covid-19 pandemic is a threat to national security and must be dealt with as such,” he said.
“Events around the world have clearly shown that no single country or institution has been able to tackle the devastating pandemic alone.”
Also addressing the conference, the Comptroller General of the Ghana Immigration Service, Kwame Asuah Takyi wants the government to amend the Immigration Service Act 908 and legislative instrument to address the retirement condition of officers.
“If you look at all the agencies under Interior especially the security agencies, our pension benefit is nothing to write home about. You retire in such a manner that you go home, if you don’t take care, I don’t know what will happen to you.
The Pension benefits are very very bad, but the minister has assured me that the government is going to work on our pension benefits. At the end of the day when you work for 30, 40 years, you have to retire, go home and enjoy your retirement, not with difficulties. It is nothing to write home about, I don’t want to say it in public when I say it they will feel uncomfortable and I myself I will feel uncomfortable,” Mr. Takyi lamented.
He assured the service’s commitment to protecting Ghana’s borders against Covid-19 and terrorist infiltrations.