Organised Labour is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, October 1, to finalize its decision on a nationwide protest against the government’s inaction on illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey.

Several unions and associations had previously signaled their intent to protest if the president did not declare a state of emergency by the end of September to address the ongoing devastation of rivers and forest reserves by illegal miners.

In an interview with Citi News on Sunday, September 29, Abdul Moomin Gbana, General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers Union under the Trades Union Congress, stated that Tuesday’s meeting would determine the next steps for the planned protest.

“The leadership of Organized 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.

“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.”

Gbana also criticized President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for failing to address the issue of illegal mining during his speech at the GJA Awards 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.”