Former Member of Parliament for Akwatia, Baba Jamal has said that the cause of hardship in Akwatia and other mining areas is due to the ban on

He said this has  greatly affected livelihood of the youth in Akwatia.

“I warned the government that by going on a frontal fight with the small-scale miners and galamseyers you’ll be causing a mess and a problem for the economy. So I advised them to thread carefully which they didn’t do and today we have seen the problem", Jamal said.

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Akwatia is a famous town known for its diamond mining and all economic activities in the town is centred around diamond mining.

He said, “The whole economy of Akwatia today is broken down completely. Akwatia is basically a ghost town, a lot of people are leaving the town because there are no jobs to be done ad these were legal small-scale miners whose jobs have been [destroyed] and so you can’t blame anybody but the government for the economy."

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Jamal also said the economic implications of the ban affects the whole Ghana. “I told them that if somebody has a mining license and is legally mining, why do you stop him? The sad aspect is that whiles you stop them; we have some foreigners in the system working which is not the best for the economy", he added.