Former Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, George Mireku Duker, has criticized the Mahama-led government for failing to deploy some 600 personnel trained under his tenure to protect the country’s water bodies from illegal mining.
Speaking on Adom FM’s Burning Issues, the former Tarkwa-Nsuaem MP explained that the personnel had successfully completed their training and were set for deployment before the change of government.
However, he said they were abandoned after the NPP lost power. Mr. Duker expressed surprise that the current administration has instead trained a new group, rather than absorbing the already-prepared team.
“Government is a continuous process. I expected the new administration to engage those we had trained, rather than spend state resources training another set of people for the very same task we had initiated,” he argued.
The present government, through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, recently recruited about 450 personnel, known as Blue Water Guards, to support the Ghana Navy in safeguarding major rivers from galamsey activities.
The new recruits went through a three-phase training program covering theoretical, physical, and practical aspects.
But Mr. Duker insists the exercise was unnecessary, as the earlier batch of 600 Water Guards, fully trained and ready for deployment, remain idle.
Source: Kwame Kulenu
ALSO READ:
- Bogoso Blue Water Guards arrest illegal miner at Dawurapong
-
Prestea Blue Water Guards destroy 8 changfans, seize 8 pumping machines near River Ankobra
