THE adoption of the Mines and Minerals (Amendment) Bill of 2021 by Parliament is widely appreciated and will certainly go a long way towards boosting economic activity in the country.

But, the Government should accelerate efforts and ensure that the Bill becomes law sooner than later in order to allow for ground work to begin for small-scale miners.

Unlike hundreds of bills that have perhaps been overlooked and abandoned by the Government, this one in particular, is more important and therefore deserves to be treated with the urgency it deserves.

Political games should be put aside in this regard if the country is seriously concerned about the wellbeing of its people in line with reducing hunger and creating employment.

Failure to achieve in this issue will definitely prove the mindset which thousands of people now have about politicians in this country - that none of them really cares about the people on the ground.

With them, it is always ‘all talk and no action’.

That behavior has since been realised by many and our understanding is that the current Government should really double efforts, and could change people’s perceptions if only they could ensure the success of this brilliant initiative.   

The Bill, which was referred to the Portfolio Committee on Natural Resources, Tourism and Land Cluster for consideration will allow the Government to work towards recognising and repositioning the Artisanal and Small- Scale Miners (ASM) sub sector in mining of precious stones in an attempt to alleviate poverty.

It seeks to remedy the gap in the 2005 Act where artisanal or small-scale miners of precious stones had no recognition, were not licensed and or permitted to mine.