Let us be clear here. The deliberate twisting of demands by civil society organisations (CSOs) to avoid taking decisive action over galamsey must stop.
The CSOs’ call for a state of emergency is not a demand for its blanket application across the entire country or even all mining-affected areas.
The CSOs are calling for a state of emergency, specifically in our forest reserves and rivers, not nationwide or in every mining zone.
There are also places in Ghana, off-reserves, towns and districts where galamsey is prevalent and demands heavy-handedness to arrest the situation; which requires applying targeted extended and enhanced measures.
Where we find ourselves now, and looking at the future risks to millions of Ghanaians, the demand for a state of emergency is not too much to ask.
A state of emergency is a government-declared measure enabling extraordinary actions during crises, such as public health crises, natural disasters, security threats or environmental destruction.
When applied to forests and rivers and the impunity of galamsey, it empowers authorities to swiftly halt illegal mining, deploy security forces to protect ecosystems and bypass slow legal processes to prevent irreversible damage.
While it grants expanded powers, like restricting movement or suspending certain rights.
The demand here is implementing a targeted, time-bound emergency to save critical natural and essential resources, not a blanket nationwide imposition.
Critics caution against overreach, but this will be an urgent intervention necessary to stop the impunity of galamsey and halt environmental terrorism and ecocide in Ghana.
When China was confronted with an epidemic of illegal mining, ravaging its environment, fuelling corruption and bleeding its natural wealth dry, it did not hesitate.
It declared war and the decisive actions that followed offered a powerful lesson for Ghana as well.
Crucial lessons
Armed police and rapid-response units stormed illegal sites, arresting operators, confiscating machinery and shutting down pits within hours.
Drones and satellites exposed hidden operations, leaving no room for escape.
Ghana already has the tools—our AI-powered tracking control room can geo-fence and monitor every excavator in real-time.
Yet this system sits idle while our forests are mowed down and rivers destroyed.
We need to deploy this technology now, enforce joint military-police-led raids and track existing as well as new excavators entering our ports.
China’s playbook was unambiguous; Illegal miners got decades in prison, no bribes and no deals.
Ghana’s Act 995 already provides sufficient punitive punishment for illegal miners, yet enforcement remains weak.
Seized excavators faced public destruction, crushed or auctioned as a warning.
Until our high-tech tracking system covers every machine, we must burn excavators caught in forest reserves or rivers.
No exceptions and no mercy. Deterrence only works when the punishment is certain and severe.
That is why we cannot allow any Chinese found engaging in illegal mining to be deported without first facing the full rigours of the laws of Ghana.
China did not just punish illegal miners; it bankrupted them. Every bank account was frozen, every asset seized.
China froze over 8,400 bank accounts tied to illegal mining (National Audit Office, 2021), revoked licenses and terminated operations.
Ghana’s freeze on Akonta Mining is a good step, but it cannot be the last.
This must become a standard procedure for every company caught destroying our environment.
Ghana’s Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources holds this same power and it is time we used it without exception, favour or delay.
China weaponised public participation — paying citizens handsomely for reporting illegal mines and transforming ordinary villagers into grassroots surveillance networks.
Meanwhile, officials who turned a blind eye faced career-ending consequences: instant dismissal, prosecution, and jail time for negligence.
China paid $26 million in citizen rewards in Jiangxi Province alone (2022 Provincial Report).
Ghana’s system currently rewards silence; we must flip the script. For example, we can pay whistleblowers 20 per cent of confiscated assets.
We can then terminate the appointments and prosecute any official who refused to see excavators destroying our forests.
When the financial incentives align with justice, compliance will follow.
They forced illegal miners to fully restore destroyed landscapes at gunpoint—no negotiations and no taxpayer-funded clean-ups.
China has been able to reclaim 92 per cent of destroyed lands since 2018, all funded by convicted miners (Natural Resources Ministry, 2023). Additionally, entire regions complicit in mining crimes were cut off from development funds until they provided real environmental rehabilitation.
Conclusion
Ghana already has the legal framework for this brutal efficiency—the EPA’s “polluter pays” mandate sits idle while excavators gut our forests. Imagine freezing district development funds until illegal mining stops.
Watch how fast local leaders will transform from bystanders to enforcers when roads and clinics hang in the balance.
The solutions and tools exist but the crisis deepens. What’s missing is the merciless will to act.
Ghana’s galamsey crisis may be complex, but the solutions are within reach if we summon the will to act decisively.
Other nations have shown the way: ruthless enforcement, unbreakable accountability and technology-driven crackdowns that leave no room for escape.
Yet here we are, playing cat-and-mouse games with illegal miners while our forests vanish and rivers bleed poison.
The time for half-measures is over.
We must wage this war as if our survival depends on it because it does.
The writer is with A Rocha Ghana.
E-mail: [email protected]