President John Dramani Mahama has reaffirmed his government’s commitment to the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, saying the administration will not relent in its efforts to reclaim forest reserves and protect Ghana’s natural resources.
According to President Mahama, the government is making progress in removing illegal miners from forest reserves and other environmentally sensitive areas across the country.
He said the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) had intensified operations against illegal mining, resulting in the seizure of excavators and changfang machines and the removal of illegal miners from several forest reserves.
President Mahama made the remarks during his Resetting Ghana Tour of the Upper East Region, where he reiterated his administration’s determination to protect Ghana’s forests, water bodies and other natural resources from the effects of illegal mining.
“NAIMOS is working very hard. We have seized excavators, we have seized Changfang machines, and we have driven illegal miners out of this area, and we are making progress,” he said.
The President said almost 49 forest reserves had been invaded by illegal miners, but efforts by NAIMOS had resulted in significant progress in clearing the affected areas.
He explained that the government initially handed over cleared forest reserves to the Forestry Commission, but had to change its approach after illegal miners returned to some of the areas.
“What we initially did was that we handed the places to the Forestry Commission after clearing them, but the illegal miners don’t fear the forest guards, and so we now put a military detachment after we clear a forest reserve,” he said.
President Mahama acknowledged that maintaining military personnel in reclaimed forest reserves would require additional resources, including funding for their feeding and logistics.
“That means we will have to spend more money to feed the soldiers and provide logistics for them to continue to stay in the forest, but we will not give up the fight,” he stressed.
Illegal mining remains a major environmental challenge in Ghana, particularly due to its impact on forests, water bodies and other natural resources.
Successive governments have faced difficulties in sustaining enforcement operations and preventing illegal miners from returning to areas previously cleared of mining activities.