The failure to address illegal mining holistically is a leadership problem, according to Kamal Alhassan, Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Opinion and Awareness (CenPOA).

The researcher claimed that pursuing only miners is not a thorough strategy, because the problem’s origin is not precisely there.

The problem he opined is with leadership, as a lot of them are also involved in illegal mining activities.

Responding to a question on whether the state of emergency would be an effective approach, he doubted, stating that the police and military officers to be deployed to deal with the menace have been compromised.

"If we want to declare a state of emergency, then those who would declare, those would enforce it, and those who would play an oversight role must be clean," he said.

According to him, when a state of emergency is also declared, the labourers at the illegal mining sites are the ones who would suffer, and the ‘big fishes’ who sponsor these activities will not be affected.

"We need a very comprehensive solution. We don’t always solve problems forcefully. We need to apply wisdom in dealing with the menace. It is not always that we need guns and force,’’ he said on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM with host Kwabena Agyapong.

He declared that the use of the soldiers and police officers has not been effective since they have been compromised, underscoring the need for authorities to use technology in managing the crisis.

He pointed out that galamsey arrests usually target either political opponents of the ruling government or individuals other than those known to be contaminating water sources.

"When they raid these mining sites, we know the targets they are after. They don’t arrest the people we are all aware are engaging in illegal mining and polluting our waters. They target people who are either political opponents or people who they are trying to take business away from.

"That is why I am saying, Let’s not just think; because we have sent the police and military in there, we can resolve the issue. Secondly, the way we deploy soldiers and police for every situation is not the best. What are we doing with the drone technology? We don’t need 1,000 soldiers. We need a few drones to monitor these areas. We can use satellite imagery to do that. Somebody can sit in Accra and still be effectively fighting galamsey using technology. It is an issue of incompetence, lack of foresight, and so many other issues that plague our governance," he said.