The fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, is being undermined by weak enforcement and a centralised approach to policing mining activities, the Deputy Executive Director of A Rocha Ghana, Daryl Bossu, has said.
Mr Bossu argued that although Ghana has laws governing mining and environmental protection, their limited enforcement has allowed illegal mining activities to persist and expand in several parts of the country.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, September 30, he said enforcement must be strengthened and brought closer to communities where illegal mining occurs.
“Enforcement has been very lackadaisical. Enforcement has been centralised instead of decentralised,” he said.
According to Mr Bossu, the current approach has weakened the state’s ability to provide effective leadership and supervision within mining communities.
He said the situation had been compounded by years of what he described as systematic failures to enforce existing laws and ensure compliance with established mining regulations.
“We treat Galamsey with kid gloves compared to other situations that this country is also confronted with,” he said.
Mr Bossu maintained that enforcement should form a central part of any comprehensive strategy to tackle illegal mining, alongside efforts to formalise and modernise small-scale mining.
He cautioned that providing equipment, improving mining practices or formalising the sector would have limited impact if illegal operators continued to operate without facing effective sanctions for breaching the law.
He attributed the persistence of galamsey to what he described as “systematic negligence, systematic error of non-enforcement and non-compliance,” saying the problem had developed over several years.
The environmental advocate therefore called for a stronger enforcement framework capable of ensuring that mining regulations are implemented consistently at the local level.
He said Ghana would need to combine effective enforcement with other interventions if it was to make sustained progress in addressing the environmental and social consequences associated with illegal mining.
