Some NAIMOS security personnel during one of the operations
The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has launched a sustained national enforcement campaign to protect major rivers from the destructive effects of illegal mining in the country.
The campaign, dubbed ‘Operation Water Shield’, marks a shift from intermittent raids to a sustained campaign designed to secure priority river systems from their source areas to downstream communities and water-treatment facilities.
Operation Water Shield will focus enforcement operations along some of the most threatened river systems, including the Ankobra, Tano, Bia, Pra and Offin rivers, as well as affected sections of the Black and White Volta.
Priority will also be given to strategic source areas and upper catchments whose degradation ultimately affects downstream water quality.
The operation will be intelligence-led and conducted in collaboration with relevant security and state agencies. Its broader mission is to protect critical water bodies, deny illegal miners access to strategic river corridors, disrupt the networks that support illegal mining, support investigations and prosecutions, and create the conditions for environmental recovery.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources said Operation Water Shield would pursue six principal objectives, including protecting strategic river source areas; denying illegal miners access to riverbanks and waterways; dismantling mining logistics networks; disrupting the criminal and financial structures that support illegal mining; supporting the restoration of degraded water bodies; and establishing enduring monitoring and enforcement systems to prevent miners from returning to cleared areas.
According to the statement, NAIMOS would make enforcement “firm, sustained and uncompromising, within the law”.
“So illegal miners operating on water bodies and riverbanks should expect their operations to be disrupted and their equipment seized, permanently and immobilised in accordance with applicable law and established procedures,” it added.
The statement added that excavators, chanfang machines, water pumps, dredging equipment and other machinery used to destroy water bodies would remain key targets of enforcement operations.
It noted, however, that the campaign would extend beyond miners found at the riverbanks, adding that “NAIMOS will also target the broader network that sustains illegal mining, including facilitators and those who provide machinery and logistical support to illegal miners”.
“Consequently, those who manufacture chanfang machines without authorisation and other equipment for illegal mining, as well as individuals and companies that rent or supply excavators, pumps and other machinery to illegal miners, will face increased scrutiny and enforcement action,” it stated.
“Operation Water Shield sends a clear message – Ghana’s rivers are not mining sites. They are not dumping sites for wastewater from mining activities.
“NAIMOS will sustain pressure on illegal miners and the networks that support them until critical water bodies and river corridors are brought under effective protection and conditions are created for their recovery,” it stressed.
The statement called on traditional authorities, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, equipment owners, communities and the public to support the operation.
“We also call on them to provide credible information on illegal mining activities and the individuals or organisations that finance, facilitate or supply equipment for such operations,” the statement said.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi