A communicator for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Policies and Research, Kwadwo Nsafoah Poku, has attributed Ghana’s continued struggle in the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, to a weak judicial system.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, September 27, Mr Poku said the inability to effectively punish offenders has rendered arrests meaningless and emboldened illegal miners.
“The biggest problem underneath all these things is weak judicial infrastructure. A weak judicial system makes it difficult for offenders to be punished. We’ve had reports of 1,500 people being arrested. Where are they? In the mining communities, they don’t care. You arrest them today, they get bail tomorrow, and the following day they go back to work. So arrest is an ordinary thing,” he explained.
Mr Poku proposed legal reforms to hold landowners and excavator owners accountable, stressing that this could significantly reduce illegal mining.
“I have proposed two things that I think will clearly reduce galamsey drastically. Bring out a law that incriminates the owner of the land that is used for galamsey. Bring out a law that incriminates the owner of an excavator,” he stated.
He noted that while small-scale mining has existed for over a century, the introduction of heavy machinery has intensified environmental destruction.
“The aggravated problems we see today are largely because of mechanised mining with huge excavators. If the rich guy who has money to buy an excavator is criminalised, it will make a difference,” he added.
Mr Mroku further argued that landowners are often complicit in galamsey operations.
“You and I cannot just enter someone’s farm and start farming without permission. So how can people enter a land and begin excavating without the owner knowing? The owners of the land are complicit. The owners of the excavators are complicit,” he stressed.
He also pointed to partisan politics as another major obstacle to the fight against galamsey, accusing both the NPP and NDC of undermining each other’s efforts for political gain.
“The fundamental problem of this galamsey fight is the NPP and NDC. When one party said, ‘I will put my presidency on it,’ the other did the opposite. And today, after nine months in power, nothing has been done,” Mr Poku said.
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