The recalcitrant illegal miners are all over the place stealing our mineral resources, terrorising the indigenes, and at the same time destroying the lands and water bodies.

Let us face it, the illegal miners are well-prepared, and routinely carry out their illegal activities with military precisions, can strike as lighting, and as deadly and destructive as molten magma.

Given the stubborn nature of the illegal miners, I predicted some time ago that it would only take massive leadership in order to curb the menace of illegal mining.

It was, therefore, quite refreshing when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo prudently placed an interim ban on small-scale mining activities.

Despite the small-scale miners' endless protestations over the temporary ban on their poorly regulated activities, the unwearied President Akufo-Addo persisted.

It was, indeed, a pragmatic step to put better data and policies in place to get the sector back on track, given the level of environmental degradation amid polluted river bodies.

Shockingly, however, no less a person than former President John Dramani Mahama
bizarrely decided to oppose the NPP administration’s commendable efforts to curb the activities of the conscienceless illegal miners (See: Stop chasing illegal miners with soldiers – Mahama to government; citinewsroom.com/ghanaweb.com, 28/04/2018).

Ex-President John Dramani Mahama was reported to have nagged and grouched somewhat plangently: “…it is true that if we don’t do something about it, it will destroy the environment. But we need to apply wisdom. Because we’ve chased young people involved in illegal small-scale mining with soldiers in the past in this country but it didn’t work.”

With all due respect, what does Ex-President Mahama take discerning Ghanaians for? After all, wasn’t he in government for eight years and what did he do to curb the apparent menace?

If, indeed, Ex-President Mahama and his NDC administration deployed the military in their attempt to halt the menace of illegal mining but to no avail, why didn’t they employ alternative solutions?

So Ex-President Mahama wants to tell the good people of Ghana that eight years in government was not enough to halt a canker such as illegal mining?

Former President Mahama was said to have shockingly pontificated: “But if we put a blanket ban and send soldiers after the young people that is not the way to go. As you stop illegal small-scale mining, at the same time you must put in place a livelihood package so that as you are displacing people from illegal mining, they have something to do…. But when there is nothing to do but you are just chasing them, shooting them, it is not the way to go.”

Deductively, Ex-President Mahama suggested that the security personnel should cease chasing armed robbers with guns and rather offer them alternative livelihoods. How bizarre?

In fact, there is incontrovertible evidence of some galamseyers quitting their jobs and moving to rural areas to embark on illegal mining. A criminal shall remain so regardless.

Ex-President Mahama opined: “We [NDC] decided that we will bring a new mining law that will regulate galamsey that persons who do it well will be able to sustain themselves…So immediately, the [Akufo-Addo] government must look at these regulations and come up with good policies so that those who want to do it, will do it within the law.”

I could not agree more with former President Mahama. Indeed, better data and policies are needed to get the sector back on track.

But the all-important question we should be asking former President Mahama and his NDC administration is: why did they fail woefully to arrest a quagmire such as illegal mining in eight years in office?

It is absolutely true that potential economic benefits (employment, tax revenues, and development outcomes) can be derived from the small-scale mining sector in Ghana.

We cannot also deny the fact that small-scale mining is a significant contributor to the economic and social well-being of many people and households in rural, remote, and poor communities in Ghana.

However, the way the small-scale mining sector is being managed in Ghana does not look favourable. The sector is being managed abysmally.

Somehow, the laws that govern the small-scale mining sector are confused and
inconsistent. Indeed, all the attention is being focused on the large-scale mining sector, leaving the small-scale mining sector at a substantial disadvantage.

But that being said, in order to achieve the maximum benefit, it is extremely important that society as a whole shows interest in promoting and strengthening the role of small-scale mining in national development.

In addition, the effective implementation of regulations and fortifications towards the developmental potential of the sector must be the topmost importance to the regulating authorities.

It must also be emphasised that societies at large have been both positively and negatively affected by small-scale mining.

The positive effects include the promotion of efficient resource use, such as extracting ores from small deposits or from tailings, and thus providing the rural folks and other small scale miners with sustainable incomes.

On the other hand, the negative effects include, among other things, environmental degradation, water pollution, the release of mercury and other toxic and hazardous wastes into the free environment, and unforeseen social tensions that can lead to civil unrest.

On the preponderance of probability, the negative effects outweigh the positive effects, and therefore it is prudent for any serious, committed, and forward-thinking leader to put tabs on the activities of the unscrupulous illegal miners.

Unfortunately, however, the lunatic fringe of the illegal miners is back in business following the lifting of the ban on small-scale mining. How unfortunate?

Given the criminal intent of the illegal miners, we are, more than ever, urgently requiring our military power to combat the menace of the stubbornly impenitent nation wreckers who are bent on stealing our natural resources and destroying the environment.

The illegal miners' invasion of our countryside to forcibly dig our mineral resources, pollute our sources of drinking water, destroying the environment and above all terrorising the natives is tantamount to war.

It is an open secret that some Ghanaians would often secure plots of land and partner with foreign illegal miners who have funds to bring in bulldozers and other big equipment.

Even though the small-scale mining laws prohibit the use of large explosives, the foreign illegal miners are revoltingly using unstructured methods, and at the same time supplying large explosives, rock crushers, and other machines to local miners. How pathetic?

As a result of the involvement of the obdurate foreign illegal miners, the dynamics of small-scale mining have somehow changed.

The illegal miners have been using bulldozers, payloaders, and extremely heavy machinery. The foreign illegal miners have mechanized artisanal mining, and as a result, the level of environmental devastation has been really huge.

Let me crave your indulgence just a moment longer to pose: which independent country on this planet (Earth) would its politicians, regulators, and law enforcement bodies sit idly while some stubbornly impenitent foreign illegal immigrants despoil its natural resources and denude the environment?

Considering the extreme dangers associated with illegal mining, it was, in fact, a step in the right direction for President Akufo-Addo to halt the illegal miners, many of whom were using noxious mercury and cyanide in their mining activities.

Take, for example, the World Health Organisation (WHO) asserts that exposure to mercury – even small amounts – may cause serious health problems and it is a threat to the development of the child in utero and early in life (WHO 2017).

In a new Communities and Small-Scale Mining (CASM) publication, Somit Varma, director of the Oil, Gas, Mining & Chemicals Department of the World Bank/IFC, stated: "The social and economic characteristics of small-scale mining fully reflect the challenges facing the world, including health, environment, gender, education, child labour, and poverty eradication."

There is no gainsaying the fact that mephitic mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining is extremely harmful and its health effects on society are significantly worrying (WHO, 2017).

Given the extreme dangers associated with illegal mining, former President John Dramani Mahama was absolutely wrong in criticising President Akufo-Addo for doing everything possible to halt the repulsive activities of the illegal miners.