One hundred and eighty-seven people who engaged in illegal mining (galamsey) in the Eastern Region have been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment since 2017, the Attorney-General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has disclosed.
Besides, 250 people are currently standing trial for their alleged involvement in illegal mining in the region.
The A-G explained that out of the convictions, 39 are foreigners, made up of 29 Nigeriens, seven Nigerians and three Chinese.
A statement made available to the media by the A-G yesterday said the sentences were handed to the illegal miners in 48 cases.
It said the prosecution secured custodial sentences in 40 of the cases, while the courts imposed fines in the remaining eight.
It explained that the cases were prosecuted by the Eastern Regional branch of the A-G’s Office, headed by a Chief State Attorney, Emily Addo-Okyireh, with most of the cases tried at the Koforidua Circuit Court B.
Mr Dame indicated that his outfit was compiling a list of prosecutions, convictions and sentencing relating to illegal mining from other regions.
He mentioned the regions as Ashanti, Greater Accra and Western, adding that the public would be updated on the outcomes of the cases when they were decided.
There will also be mutual access to materials, documents and equipment and the promotion of research materials of the university to enrich content of the GCGL brands.
The Dean of the UGBS, Professor Justice Nyigmah Bawole, signed the MoU on behalf of the school, while the Managing Director (MD) of the GCGL, Ato Afful, initialed it for the group.
The signing ceremony, which took place yesterday, was witnessed by the Deputy Registrar of the UGBS, Emmanuel Poku-Sarkodee, and a senior lecturer at the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship of the UGBS, Dr Raphael Odoom, on the side of the university, while the Director, Marketing, Franklin Sowa, and the acting Editor of the Graphic Business, Charles Benoni Okine, witnessed the signing on the side of the GCGL.
Prof. Bawole expressed his satisfaction with the partnership, saying it would pave the way for the two parties to work together for their mutual benefit.
He said the school was established as the College of Administration by Executive Instrument (E.I.127) at Achimota, Accra in January 1960.
It started business in January 1960 on the old Western Compound of Achimota School, with the old Department of Commerce of the Kumasi College of Technology, established in 1952 (now KNUST) as its nucleus campus.
“We have gone through a lot of good and bad times to evolve into a world-class institution which currently has 103 lecturers providing services to 16,000 students. The school initially started with 192 students,” he said.
The dean explained that the school operated very responsive departments that developed programmes to train more students to become global leaders.
As a market leader, Prof. Bawole indicated, the school was unable to renege on the population that it served and so it had, over the years, taken steps to deliberately expand.
“We have developed a new strategy which seeks to collaborate with and leverage relations with institutions such as the GCGL to reach out, using powerful communication,” he said.
For his part, the MD of the GCGL underlined the need for the university to engage through strategic partnerships that could impact positively on the citizenry.
He said the GCGL saw the university as an avenue where thought leadership of the country should be generated and communicated to the public.
SOURCE : Graphiconline
