President Nana Akufo-Addo has said he will not allow illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) to destroy Ghana.

At a durbar at the Dormaahene’s Palace in the Brong Ahafo Region where he visited on Thursday, Nana Akufo-Addo said: “The Ghana handed down to us by our forefathers is the same Ghana we must leave for the unborn generations. We must not allow Galamsey to destroy our country, no way”.

His government declared zero tolerance for galamsey shortly after taking office. The campaign has led to the withdrawal of 544 excavators and earthmoving equipment from galamsey sits across the country following the expiration of a 21-day ultimatum to that effect given by Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu.

Mr Amewu said the government will destroy any excavators used for mining without permit from the appropriate authorities.

“…If you own an excavator, and for some reason you want that excavator to go and work at a place, that excavator must have a working permit. So you have a permit for your concession, but the excavator that is going to work there must also have a permit. So in the attempt to get that excavator a permit, that is when we are going to put in that tracking device. So that if they go and use the excavator for working somewhere else which is not a demarcated area to work, then the owner of the excavator will be treated differently from the concession owner,” Mr Amewu told Accra-based Citi FM.