The Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has called for “ruthless enforcement” in the fight against illegal mining, warning that the menace has spiraled beyond control and now threatens national security, food production, and the environment.
Speaking on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey on Tuesday, October 7, Paul Nana Kwabena Aborampah Mensah, Programme Manager for Security Sector Governance at CDD-Ghana, said conventional interventions have failed as illegal miners have become more organized, heavily armed, and defiant toward law enforcement.
“The way galamsey has got into it, you go to a galamsey site, people are well resolved. They have their guns, sophisticated ones. The forestry commissioners, forestry guards are running away. Look at what happened to some of the police officers who these galamsey guy molested. Look at what happened to Major Mahama. So galamsey people have gone beyond dialogue,” Mr. Mensah said.
He emphasized that the state must respond with equal force, arguing that timid enforcement and fragmented strategies are emboldening illegal miners and deepening Ghana’s ecological crisis.
“The issue has gone beyond. And the fear is that we don’t even know who are infiltrating the site. Are they only Ghanaians? Do we have some of the people from the terrorist invaded countries also here? We don’t even know. We need to be serious as a country and move a step ahead.
The Colonel said they are going to be ruthless, they are going to be brutal. We need that because the people are confronting them with all the aftermath they have,” he added.
Mr. Mensah further expressed fears that some illegal mining sites could be infiltrated by foreign elements, including individuals from terrorist-affected regions, given the level of lawlessness in some areas.
He warned that without decisive military-backed operations, Ghana risks losing control over vast portions of its mining zones, where water bodies are being poisoned, forests razed, and communities exposed to violence.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
