Accra, Ghana//-An investigative journalist at JoyNews, Erastus Asare Donkor, has urged Ghana’s President John Dramani to hold Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) responsible for pollution of the environment and water bodies in illegal mining (galamsey) communities across the country.
This follows rising allegations that some MMDCEs and party executives at the local assemblies are being bribed by illegal miners to allow them to mine in gold-endowed communities in the country.
Speaking at the 20th edition of ‘Kroti ne Akwamu’ Democracy and Governance Public Lecture organised by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), he said: “The problem is not the illegal miner in the pit. It is the leader looking away.
This is why I say, respectfully, that the President has to be holding MMDCEs responsible for galamsey in their jurisdictions”.
Mr Donkor continued: “If a district’s rivers are polluted and its lands are destroyed, the MMDCE must explain why because he is the head of the District Security Council (DISEC).
According to the multiple award-winning journalist, political interference, lack of political will, weak oversight, and compromised local authorities are the major threats to the West African country’s anti-galamsey war.
Mr Donkor, who is also a seasoned environmental journalist, highlighted severe environmental and health challenges caused by polluted water bodies.
He added that more than 60% of the country’s primary forest reserves have been degraded due to the activities of the illegal miners.
Delivering the keynote address at the lecture on Thursday, November 27, on the theme ‘Galamsey: A Country’s Search for a Solution in Plain Sight’, Mr Donkor doubted the government’s commitment to ending the illegal mining, locally known as galamsey.
He argued that the fight could not succeed as long as excavators used in galamsey operations continue to “disappear and reappear like ghosts.”
The journalist cited a weak enforcement system that allows heavy equipment to be moved in and out of mining zones without accountability.
What can be done
Mr Donkor used the occasion to call on the Minerals Commission to operationalise the long-delayed excavator tracking system.
He believes that every excavator in the country must be registered and monitored in real time to stop excavators and other heavy earthmoving equipment from engaging in illegal mining.
Any unregistered machine found within a mining area should be seized without hesitation, he urged.
“No government can claim to be serious about fighting galamsey while refusing to adopt basic tracking measures”.
Mr Donkor also called for water bodies and major biodiversity zones to be declared as national security areas where mining is strictly prohibited.
He, however, warned that such measures would require robust enforcement, which is lacking currently in the country.
Touching on NAIMOS, Mr Donkor noted that the National Anti-Illegal Mining Taskforce (NAIMOS) remains under-resourced, without a dedicated budget, adequate logistics, or political protection.
According to him, these gaps undermine the task force’s ability to safeguard rivers and forest reserves.
“How do we expect them to protect rivers when we don’t protect them?” To this end, Mr Donkor called for stronger collaboration with local police and the decentralisation of NAIMOS to enforce security zones effectively.
He recommended that NAIMOS should establish internal watchdog structures to prevent corruption and institutional weakness.
Mr Donkor further proposed the creation of a credible intelligence network made up of journalists, community leaders, forestry officers, and civic groups who could report directly to the President with unfiltered information from the ground.
He called for major reforms within the Forestry Commission, which he accused of enabling the plunder of forest reserves under the guise of reclamation.
To fix this, he recommended the upgrading of the Commission to a paramilitary-level institution capable of enforcing demarcations and protecting Ghana’s forest frontiers.
All hands on deck
Ghanaian physician and cardiothoracic surgeon, and politician, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, who chaired the public lecture, called on all Ghanaians to take part in the fight against illegal mining in the country.
Past speakers
The past speakers of the annual public lectures included the Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)-West Africa, Idayat Hassan; late former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan; His Lordship the late Justice V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe; Dr Jendayi Fraizer, a former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and a distinguished service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, U.S.A; and Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, a Co-founder and former Executive Director of CDD-Ghana; seasoned broadcast journalist, Bernard Avle of CITI FM.
The ‘Kronti ne Akwamu’ Lecture, which is CDD-Ghana’s flagship annual public lecture on democracy and governance, seeks to bridge the gap between ideas, research, and analysis on one hand, and pro-democracy and good governance advocacy on the other.
It is therefore aimed at enriching the quality of public discourse on democratic and governance reforms as well as offering alternative views for national development.
