Security Analyst, Prof. Kwesi Aning, has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to take decisive action to comprehensively address the illegal mining menace, locally known as galamsey, before it spirals out of control. Speaking on Channel One News with Eno Safo, Prof. Aning emphasised the need for leaders to recognise the challenges impeding efforts to combat galamsey and to adopt a more proactive approach.
He stressed that the current approach is ineffective and called for bolder measures to tackle the problem. “We can’t continue to do business as usual to do things as if nothing is wrong. There’s something fundamentally wrong and the earlier we are bold enough to accept it and discuss it, and to grab the bull by the horns, the better for all of us.”
The security expert lamented the devastating damage galamsey has inflicted on Ghana’s water bodies and forests, noting that despite this destruction, the country derives no economic benefit from the practice.
According to him, the only individuals who profit from illegal mining are those directly involved, while the broader economy suffers from environmental degradation. Prof. Aning concluded by reiterating the urgency of adopting a collective and firm stance against galamsey to safeguard Ghana’s natural resources and ensure sustainable development.
“From those who will be making the law and those who will be implementing it, and to those who need to play an oversight role of what we’re seeing in Ghana today, it doesn’t seem the willingness and the preparedness to understand and appreciate the complicity of interests that are coming together.
Not only to threaten the environment but to threaten the very existence of the Republic of Ghana. And that is denial by those in authority that galamsey provides jobs, it gives us income. But if we offset the problems that galamsey is giving to Ghana now, with whatever economic incentive that arises from it. Then the balance doesn’t inure to the benefits of Ghana.”
His comments come in response to the President’s directive to deploy additional troops to tackle the illegal mining menace that has been devastating the country’s forest reserves and water bodies.
On Thursday, October 10, the Ghanaian military launched a renewed and intensified operation to combat illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey, resulting in the destruction of significant mining equipment on the first day. Soldiers deployed under the government’s “Operation Halt” initiative successfully destroyed 18 chanfans, 10 industrial water pumping machines, and one excavator in various illegal mining sites across Ghana.
The military crackdown, which began early Thursday morning, targeted illegal mining operations primarily in water bodies and protected areas, which have long suffered from severe environmental degradation due to galamsey activities. The destruction of these machines is part of a broader national effort to curb the devastating impact of galamsey, which has led to the pollution of rivers, the destruction of farmlands, and deforestation in many parts of the country.
By: Leticia Osei
