Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, has criticized the incarceration of foreign nationals involved in illegal mining, describing it as an unnecessary financial burden on the Ghanaian state.

Speaking on Starr Chat with Bola Ray, Gbande argued that while Ghanaian citizens engaged in galamsey (illegal mining) should face prosecution and imprisonment, foreign nationals should instead be deported and banned from re-entering the country.

“Once you arrest somebody, it’s an expenditure on the state. If you jail the person, it’s an expenditure on the state,” he stated. “If you’ve come from your country with the sole purpose of being irresponsible in ours, when you are caught, it doesn’t matter your investment—you should be taken out and banned from coming back.”

Gbande emphasized the need for “ruthless steps” to protect Ghana’s environment and natural resources, citing evidence that some foreign nationals—particularly certain Chinese miners—cause more significant environmental destruction due to their large-scale operations and use of heavy machinery.

He further alleged that during the tenure of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), some Chinese illegal miners were protected by military forces, allowing them to operate freely in forest reserves. “That is what the NPP did, and I’m saying this because I know it—I’ve been in the field,” Gbande claimed.

Praising the Interior Minister’s recent directive to deport foreign galamsey operators while jailing Ghanaian offenders, Gbande added that nationals from neighboring countries, such as Guinea, should be ordered to repair the damage they cause or face imprisonment.

“If you’re a Ghanaian, you should be taken straight to court and given an ultimatum to go and repair the damage. If you don’t do it, you are jailed. When we do that, by the time we jail a thousand people, we will set the system right,” he concluded.