Illegal mining: Over 500 equipment destroyed in 6 days

Over 500 pieces of equipment used in illegal mining (galamsey) close to water bodies have been destroyed, Minister of Defence Dominic Nitiwul has revealed.

Anti-galamseyers have adopted a new approach of burning excavators and other equipment found at illegal mining sites.

The equipment destroyed includes excavators, changfangs, industrial pumping machines, and dredging equipment.

Despite an initial war waged against the galamsey menace, the illegal practice continues to threaten the environment, polluting water bodies and depleting the country’s forest reserves.

In recent times, Ghana’s cocoa sector is facing a crisis because of the ripple effects of the activities of illegal miners.

The government has subsequently launched ‘Operation Halt’ in a renewed fight with the deployment of 400 military men to ensure no mining occurs within 100meters of river banks.

The team commenced operations on Wednesday, April 28, 2021, on the River Pra in the Central and Western Regions.

The duration for each phase is three days, with 9 excavators and 208 chanfangs among the items burnt in the first phase.

The following were also destroyed at the end of the second phase on Friday, May 7, 2021.

-28 excavators

-1 dredging machine

-267 changfangs

-18 water pumping machine

-1 milling machine

-2 industrial pumps

-10 plastic fuel tanks

-5 canoes

-One wooden structure

-8 industrial batteries

-One washing platform

-2 pump action guns

Briefing the media on the exercise on Tuesday, May 11, Mr. Nitiwul explained that the soldiers were assembled from all the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) ranks to carry out the exercise.

They traveled over 120km with no roads, “which was a very difficult terrain” to their destinations on River Pra and Offin along Twifo Praso, Dunkwa on Offin, Dominase, and Daboase in the Central and Western regions.

General Officer Commanding (GOC) the Southern Command, Brigadier General Amoah Ayisi led the team.

Mr. Nitiwul was concerned that “most of the rivers to the West of Accra are totally destroyed”, with the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) struggling to process adequate water for Ghanaians.

“After reconnaissance, we found out that the situation was even worse than the first phase”.

It was “absolutely terrible, and it looks like the third phase will even be worse off,” he said.

He insisted that “no machine will come home”, but “no arrests were made because most of the illegal miners ran away”.

The military avoided shooting or pursuing them, but he cautioned culprits not to “take that as a weakness because arrests and prosecutions will take place”.

He indicated that heavy equipment used by the miners is sometimes withdrawn and hidden in nearby communities, and the destruction continues at night when the team had left.

The national exercise has witnessed opposition from miners and chiefs in some communities.

For example, in Kyekyewere, a local chief tried to mobilize the youth to fight the military because he claimed two of his excavators were burnt.

“The operation will continue until the objectives of President Akufo-Addo have been achieved,” Mr. Nitiwul maintained.

Small-scale miners fight back

Meanwhile, small-scale miners have issued a seven-day ultimatum to the government to end the destruction of their properties, or else they would respond with a demonstration.

“We are giving the government 7 days to address these concerns. If nothing is heard from them, we will embark on a three-day nationwide demonstration,” The Small-Scale Miners Association said.

Its Communications Director for the association, Abdul Razak Alhassan, explained in a press conference that the military was terrorizing its operations.

According to him, they are exempted from action by the military recently deployed to clamp down illegal mining activities because their sites are not close to river bodies.

Addressing the media at Ntaferewaso in the Twifo-Atti Morkwa District of the Central Region, he said, “ the military was deployed to specific river bodies, but we are seeing a situation where they veer into communities with licensed small-scale miners and end up burning their equipment”.

This latest action to fight the menace, popularly known as galamsey, comes after the Stakeholder Dialogue on Small Scale Mining.

Similar military deployment

Shortly after the first Akufo-Addo administration commenced in 2017, a joint military and police task force known as Operation Vanguard was unleashed to combat illegal mining.

However, the desired results were not achieved despite some successes achieved from the joint team.

After nearly three years of working together, the military component of the task force was dissolved by the government in March 2020.

It was believed that the withdrawal of the military from the joint task force was to allow restrategizing by the government in the fight against illegal mining.

The task was left in the hands of the police.

Despite their operations, there are still activities of illegal miners dotted across the country.

What necessitated the galamsey fight

Over the years, there has been growing public frustration over efforts to reclaim damaged environments.

Polluted water bodies like River Pra are still looking brownish with residues of cyanide.

Some areas of the country initially covered by thick vegetation have become bare.

The NPP government launched Operation Vanguard in 2017 to reclaim mining zones from environmental degradation caused by illegal mining.

President Nana Akufo-Addo made the fight against illegal mining one of the key objectives of his government.

“I have said it in the Cabinet, and perhaps this is the first time I am making this public, that I am prepared to put my Presidency on the line on this matter,” he said in 2017.

The government set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).

A nationwide ban on small-scale mining and illegal mining, popularly known as ‘galamsey’, followed.

After four years,  the government is under pressure to highlight the positives following several scandals.

There is an increasing perception that politicians are neck-deep in illegal mining and are frustrating the fight.

Even the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining has not been free from scandals.

Its secretary, Charles Bissue, resigned after an undercover investigation implicated him.

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service concluded in their report that Mr. Bissue did not circumvent laid down processes.

This was after President Akufo-Addo called for a probe into the matter following a documentary by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.