President Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has announced a shift in the government’s fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, declaring that his administration will now focus on dismantling the financial networks sustaining the practice rather than concentrating primarily on low-level operators.
Delivering a message on the State of the Nation in Parliament yesterday, the President described galamsey as a grave national menace that continues to threaten water bodies, forests, public health, and national security.
While acknowledging intensified enforcement efforts over the years, he admitted that past strategies had failed to bring the most influential actors to justice.
According to President Mahama, enforcement agencies have largely targeted site workers and small-scale participants, leaving the financiers and orchestrators behind illegal mining operations untouched.
He stressed that this imbalance has allowed the illegal mining activities to persist despite repeated crackdowns.
“Prosecution of persons engaged in illegal mining has been intense. However, efforts have been behind galamsey operations rather than targeting only the little fish. In all these operations, there are big fish who never get caught,” he stated.
The President announced the deployment of specialised prosecutorial teams mandated to fast-track illegal mining cases and pursue those who finance and benefit from the trade to address this gap.
According to him, the teams will work to strengthen evidence gathering, accelerate court processes, and ensure the confiscation and forfeiture of equipment and proceeds linked to illegal mining activities.
President Mahama also revealed that 140 communities across the country have been identified as highly vulnerable to illegal mining activities, which he intimated, underscored the widespread nature of the problem and the urgency of a coordinated national response.
Meanwhile, President Mahama has urged security agencies and state officials to adopt a more cooperative approach with journalists while unveiling plans to revitalise state-owned media and strengthen national development.
“I have called on our security personnel to take firm action and to reorient their men and women on the need to be accommodating to journalists who are only doing their job of keeping citizens informed,” he said.
“I recently toured these media houses to learn about their challenges firsthand. We are currently putting together a revitalisation plan to leverage their valuable assets and re-inject life into their operations,” he noted.
He revealed that the Media Development Fund was being reconsidered to support the sustainability and growth of the Ghanaian media landscape.
Reflecting on his recent visit to Zambia, President Mahama recalled how Ghana successfully managed a cultural mislabeling issue on social media, turning potential ridicule into an opportunity for diplomacy and national pride.
“We corrected the record with speed and confidence. We turned confusion into connection, and a fleeting social media frenzy into a handshake of friendship with our Zambian brothers and sisters,” he said.
The President emphasised that unity in cultural moments must translate into unity for national development.
“Our pursuit of national development demands that same unity of purpose. We must act as one people with one purpose,” he asserted.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House