Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of National Security, has warned that terrorists may take advantage of the galamsey activities in the country.
This is because the revenue generated from galamsey activities will be able to fund the criminal activities of these terrorists.
According to Kan-Dapaah, terrorists in countries like Burkina Faso and Mali, have been attracted to gold mining areas but he assured that his Ministry has taken cognizance of the development and working hard to avert the consequences.
He noted, the Accra Initiative, which aims to prevent the spillover of terrorism from the Sahel and to address transnational organized crime and violent extremism in ECOWAS member countries’ border areas.
“In Mali, in Burkina Faso, the terrorists have always been attracted to gold mining areas. Clearly, they try to make money from gold mining activities to undertake the criminal activities that they do. The criminals may want to take advantage of galamsey activities in our country to raise money to do what they do in other countries and what they may plan to do in our country.
“We are aware of this. We are studying it. We do know what has to be done in this area, and we work hard to make sure we are not overtaken by events. But clearly, one way that you can make cheap money to go and undertake some of these criminal activities is galamsey, so it’s of interest,” Albert Kan-Dapaah explained at a press briefing in Accra.
The West African sub-region has been confronted with terrorist threats, as Ghana’s neighbours Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso have suffered attacks from terror groups in recent times.
The development has compelled the government to launch the “See Something, Say Something” campaign, which is aimed at encouraging citizens to report any suspicious activity.