The government will station armed personnel at permanent bases along rivers and forest reserves across Ghana as part of the campaign to stop illegal mining.
This is to ensure that illegal miners do not return to areas that have been cleared, the Minister for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has said.
Speaking in a television interview monitored by Graphic Online on Joy News on Tuesday [Nov 26, 2025], Mr Kwakye Ofosu said the move marks a shift from short raids to a permanent military presence on water bodies and protected forests.
“There is an effort to deploy armed men along all the rivers we have in Ghana and in the forests,” he said.
He added that the forces will have permanent bases so that illegal miners do not return after security teams clear them from an area.
Mr Ofosu said the plan was to have constant presence aimed at dealing with the cycle where miners resume operations soon after enforcement teams withdraw.
The government has allocated GH¢150 million to the fight against illegal in the 2026 budget.
This is triple the GH¢50 million provided in 2025 and higher than the GH¢2.8 million allocated in 2024.
