GhanaWeb Feature

The threat of Ghana, a country blessed with rivers and other water bodies, having to import potable water, is becoming increasingly real.

This threat is not due to the country's water bodies drying up because of global warming or any other external factor, but because of illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey. This menace, as security expert Prof Kwesi Aning describes it, began with small groups of ordinary Ghanaians but has evolved into transnational organized crime.

The Ghana Water Company has repeatedly stated that galamsey activities not only deplete the raw water necessary to process potable water for public consumption but also raise the company's production costs. The raw water is contaminated with pollutants such as mercury, arsenic, and lead used in mineral processing, which are harmful to aquatic life and humans.

Galamsey activities are also devastating Ghana's forest reserves. The Ghana Forestry Commission reports that the country has lost 38 forest reserves due to galamsey activities.

Furthermore, the menace is negatively impacting the production of Ghana's major export, cocoa. The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has expressed serious concern over the rapid destruction of cocoa farms by illegal mining. Between 67 to 82 percent of cocoa farmlands are affected by digging and the unregulated use of mercury and other chemicals to extract gold and other precious minerals.

Fight against galamsey

Despite the millions of Ghana Cedis spent by the government, the adverse effects of galamsey persist and are worsening. The Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government, after the president staked his presidency on the fight against galamsey, has spent over GH¢300 million to combat the menace.

In 2017, the government launched Operation Vanguard, a joint military and police task force comprising 400 servicemen to address galamsey activities in the Ashanti, Eastern, Western, and Central Regions. While the exact amount spent that year is unclear, the Multilateral Mining Integrated Project (MMIP) document indicated a need for $150 million to end galamsey in Ghana.

In 2019, the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MESTI), under the leadership of former Minister Prof. Frimpong Boateng, established a 64-member Galamstop Taskforce to support Operation Vanguard in fighting illegal mining.

In 2020, the government launched a military operation called Operation Halt II to halt illegal mining in forest reserves and water bodies.

Amount of money spent in the fight against galamsey by this government

It is estimated that over GH¢300 million has been used in the fight against illegal mining by this government since 2020.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Alhassan Suhuyini, who is also a member of the Lands and Forestry Committee of Parliament, stated that the government allocated more than GH¢300 million to the inter-ministerial committee dealing with galamsey between 2020 and 2023.

“According to allocations in the budget, the inter-ministerial committee alone was to be allocated GH¢33 million every quarter. If all releases should have indeed been made to the inter-ministerial committee, it would have meant that in the three years of its operation, they were allocated GH¢300 million.

"This is for the inter-ministerial committee alone; you don’t talk about the task force, the Ministry of Lands, the Ministry of Defence, and the budgets that are allocated to all of them in this (galamsey) fight. GH¢308 million,” he said in an interview on Metro TV.

A Ministry of Finance document cited by GhanaWeb indicated that the government planned to spend GH¢4,250,400 in 2021, GH¢18,361,728 in 2022, GH¢21,115,987 in 2023, and GH¢25,339,185 on Operation Vanguard. If these sums were indeed spent, it would mean that over GH¢70 million was spent solely on Operation Vanguard between 2021 and 2024.

Why the government’s galamsey fight leaves so many unanswered questions

The government's efforts against galamsey have resulted in the arrest of thousands of illegal small-scale miners. However, many are concerned that none of the individuals financing these illegal mining activities, believed to be politicians or politically connected, as stated by Prof Frimpong Boateng, have been arrested.

Recent reports suggest that galamsey activities are increasing, with politicians now bringing in Chinese illegal miners who are destroying forest reserves and water bodies.

TWI NEWS

Another concerning aspect of this galamsey fight is that after Chinese illegal miners are arrested, the Forestry Commission has stated that they are released due to a lack of interpreters during prosecution.

Mining equipment belonging to prominent members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been destroyed by the anti-galamsey task force without repercussions.

On Tuesday, September 23, 2024, Members of Ghana’s Parliament claimed that water pollution from galamsey was worse under the previous government than the current one.

All these factors indicate that without political will to combat illegal mining, the country risks wasting resources fighting a menace spearheaded by the very politicians governing it.

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