The much-talked-about fight against the dreaded illegal mining menace famously known as galamsey seems to have taken a nosedive.
It follows the seeming lack of interest and willingness on the part of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration since assuming office on January 7, 2025.
So far, government has not detailed or rolled out any comprehensive plan to fight the menace except the training of river guards to protect the country’s water bodies against degradation.
Currently, 400 recruits, known as the Blue Water River Guards, are undergoing training at the Ezinlibo Forward Base of Ghana Navy in the Jomoro District, in the Western Region, which has even raised concerns about the ability of these water guards to fight a canker the police and military have not been able to uproot without a proper political will.
Apart from that, there seems to be no clear-cut government policy on the menace, with its incidence growing by day.
Meanwhile, government officials have literally been running away from enquiries from journalists on the subject.
Broadcast journalist at Multimedia, Erastus Asare Donkor, one of the leading journalists who have been reporting on the canker with deep insights into its activities and operations, has already started expressing frustration at government’s attitude towards the fight.
Aside government officials not responding to his enquiries, he had this to say on April 1, 2025, “Galamsey Update: Tano Anwia Forest Reserve. Soon as I finished my interview on exposing the truth about interferences in anti-galamsey works in the forest, an order has just been sent to the troops who are clearing the forest of illegal miners to leave immediately,” whilst asking rhetorically “who gave the order? Mr. President?” in a Facebook post.
Only last week, loudmouth Onua TV presenter who until the December 7, 2024 elections was one of the anti-galamsey campaigners, once again found his lost voice, accusing some executives of the NDC of having invaded a number of forests and engaging in illegal mining.
Minister of Government Communications and Spokesperson to the President, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has equally failed to respond to enquiries by DAILY GUIDE on the subject.
At the time of filing this report yesterday, Multimedia journalist Asare Donkor had posted a ‘galamsey update’ on his Facebook timeline saying, “I have seen farmers whose land have been forcibly taken over by illegal miners, but this one hurts deeply.”
“So Wilson Estates Ltd have owned this land and have been developing this Rubber Plantation since 1972.
“The land mass is 1,650 acres with over 500 acres of matured Rubber Plantation.
“Now armed illegal mining thugs have taken over the plantation and destroyed close to 100 acres of planted rubber.
“The location of the Rubber Plantation is called Fischer…between Apedwa Junction and Bunsu Junction in the Eastern Region.
“He has filed countless reports to the Bunsu police and the regional police headquarters at Kyebi but they have not helped him.
“Now he watches on helplessly as these armed thugs destroy his livelihood.”
He, therefore, asked rhetorically “so when even the police cannot help you save your property, what do you do?” whilst noting with emphasis “IGP YOHUNO I trust your track record, please assist this poor man.”
Meanwhile, all the civil society organisations (CSOs) which were leading the galamsey fight ahead of the 2024 general election and their leaders including the likes of Ken Ashigbi, Franklin Cudjoe, Steve Manteaw and Prof. Ransford Gyampo, who made it a political campaign, asking then President Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) to declare a state of emergency, all seem to have either gone dead or lost their loud voices since the NDC assumed the reins of governance, as though the galamsey fight is over, thereby raising eyebrows.
Some have therefore asked whether the pressure that was being mounted on the previous Akufo-Addo-led NPP government by the CSOs was just to cause disaffection for them or a genuine concern, since they have gone dead-silent on the subject after the NPP lost power.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu