The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has outlined a comprehensive five-pillar strategy to tackle illegal mining, commonly known as ‘galamsey,’ as part of efforts to safeguard Ghana’s environment, water bodies, and mineral resources.
The strategy emphasises Stakeholder Engagement, Regulatory Reforms, Law Enforcement, Reclamation, and Alternative Livelihoods as the foundation for eliminating illegal mining and promoting responsible small-scale mining across the country.
The sector Minister, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah (MP), who also doubles as the caretaker Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, said the first pillar seeks to emphasis the critical role of all Ghanaians, including Traditional Leaders, local authorities, academia, civil society organisations, and residents, to build consensus against illegal mining as the Ministry rolls out education campaigns to encourage local ownership of the fight and promote responsible mining practices.
Mr Buah reiterated this strategy last Friday when President John Dramani Mahama held a stakeholder dialogue with civil society in Accra on galamsey.
Under the second pillar Regulatory Reform, he said the Ministry will seek to strengthen the Licensing Regimes and monitoring mechanisms to ensure that only properly registered miners operate within the law.
According to him, it was driving a decentralisation agenda to ensure that District Mining Committees are a central part of the process of the issuance of mining licenses – they are to make recommendations to the Minerals Commission before any license is issued.
The sector minister said the Law Enforcement pillar would focus on sustained security operations against illegal mining activities, adding that this involves close collaboration with law enforcement agencies to clamp down on unlicensed operators while protecting legally compliant miners.
The establishment of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) – as the operational nerve centre for the coordination of all anti-illegal mining law enforcement operations, he noted, was instrumental in the successes that the government has chalked so far.
The fourth pillar, he said, would focus on the rehabilitation of degraded lands and the restoration of polluted rivers. Under this pillar, two key initiatives have been launched – the Tree for Life Reforestation Programme and the Blue Water Initiative, respectively.
“Special attention is being given to communities severely affected by galamsey, with reclamation projects already underway in several regions. Forest Reserves and Water Bodies have also been declared Security Zones to be manned by the NAIMOS task force
The fifth pillar, another critical piece of the solution, is the provision of Alternative Livelihoods, which aims at providing sustainable economic opportunities for communities dependent on galamsey.
“The Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP) is fundamentally designed to achieve sustainable community transformation through three critical objectives; the promotion and facilitation of environmentally responsible cooperative mining, provision of vocational, technical, agricultural, digital, and entrepreneurial training to youth and women to equip them with relevant skills for alternative employment and self-employment.
President John Dramani Mahama pledged full transparency in the fight against illegal mining activities.
“I’m determined. We need your support. We need your criticism, your advocacy, your pressure. Continue to put our feet to the fire, and let’s win this fight together. Our great-grandfathers gave us a beautiful country with trees and beautiful rivers, and we should not hand over poisoned water bodies or desecrated forests to our children and great-grandchildren,” President Mahama said.
BY TIMES REPORTER
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