Long-term solution key to galamsey fight

Small-scale illegal mining, popularly referred to as ‘galamsey’, poses serious threats to human life and the environment.

In many mining communities in Ghana, wanton environmental destruction and pollution of water bodies are worrying developments of the activities of illegal miners.

While efforts have been made by government agencies, including the security agencies, and civil society organisations to clamp down on illegal mining, the challenges wrought by ‘galamsey’ persist and remain burdensome, sometimes with fatal outcomes.

Recently, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, had cause to question the failure of the security agencies to successfully fight illegal mining in the country.

He acknowledged the economic drivers of illegal mining operations, but said those drivers should not supersede the need to protect the environment.

It is in this regard that the national security strategy on fighting illegal mining in rivers and forest reserves is undergoing revision to make it more robust and effective.

The Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, has said the strategy is being revised because of the current spate of degradation of the country's resources through the activities of illegal miners.

While there is unanimity that illegal mining puts mining communities and human lives in dire risk, the quest for a sustained effort to address the crisis has proved quite elusive.

Government interventions through the security agencies have often been reactive — usually these interventions are made when protests reach a crescendo following sustained media coverage of the menace, but after a while any gains made are eroded as the miners resume their operations with impunity.

Indeed, what used to be simple surface mining by indigenes of mining communities to help improve their livelihoods has been transformed into highly mechanised operations, with more devastating effects on the environment and the poor management of the after effects of the operations.

This is the direct result of the influx of foreigners into illegal mining operations and the introduction of modern machinery.

That is why it is necessary for all Ghanaians to see the fight against illegal mining by the government as an attempt to sanitise the environment and the lives of the citizenry.

We are in no doubt that the fight will adversely affect the livelihoods of some people, but the general benefits to the nation far outweigh any other consideration.

For us, claims that the galamsey phenomenon is underpinned by poverty should not, in any way, be countenanced within policy circles, in as much as other social vices (such as armed robbery, prostitution, etc) cannot be justified on grounds of high levels of youth unemployment.

Again, given the adverse implications of galamsey on the Ghanaian society as a whole, it will be important that political parties desist from pronouncements that impliedly underscore their endorsement of illegal mining activities during electioneering.

Given the substantial influence that chiefs continue to wield over land and rural populations, it is crucial that they are made part of the anti-galamsey crusade.

In this respect, recent efforts by some paramount chiefs to punish their sub-chiefs for supporting or condoning the activities of illegal miners are steps in the right direction.

It is important that the people in communities where illegal mining is prevalent are actively involved in safeguarding their communities and the environment.

Without a comprehensive concerted approach to the fight against galamsey, curbing this inherently political problem will continue to yield sub-optimal results.

We must find a long-term solution to the galamsey issue, which has gradually degenerated into a national security problem.