Convener of the OneGhana Movement and Trustee of the Ghana Coalition Against Galamsey, Senyo Hosi, says Ghana’s fight against illegal mining has failed and requires a fundamental change in strategy to address the economic and political interests sustaining the practice.
He argues that the continued reliance on raids and enforcement operations will not deliver lasting results unless the government tackles the financial incentives that encourage politicians, communities and other influential interests to support illegal mining.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, November 14, Mr Hosi said the country needed to confront the reality that its existing approach had not produced the desired results.
“The fight against galamsey has failed. We should stop going around the bush. It has failed,” he said.
He maintained that the strategy initially adopted to tackle illegal mining was unlikely to succeed without a broader intervention that addresses the interests driving the activity.
According to him, any new approach must go beyond formalising mining operations and introduce technology and corrective measures that remove the economic motivations behind illegal mining.
He said such an intervention should also address the incentives that encourage political actors to support the practice, provide alternative economic opportunities for affected communities and protect the country’s environment.
Mr Hosi believes these objectives can be achieved together if the government adopts a more practical approach to the problem.
He said the country’s experience with resistance to anti-galamsey operations demonstrated the limitations of relying heavily on force to address an activity that has become deeply connected to the economic survival of many communities.
He cited incidents in which residents had confronted security personnel during enforcement operations, warning that the situation could deteriorate further if the underlying issues remained unresolved.
He recalled previous confrontations involving communities and state security personnel, including the killing of a soldier, as evidence of the growing dangers associated with the fight.
Mr Hosi said the government could not expect to eliminate illegal mining simply by deploying security personnel to communities where mining had become a major source of livelihood.
He argued that the scale of the economic interests involved made it difficult to achieve lasting results through military action alone.
He stressed that the economic realities of affected communities must form a central part of any intervention, warning that enforcement without viable alternatives would continue to push people back into illegal mining.
Mr Hosi further argued that the political commitment required to tackle illegal mining decisively had been lacking, despite the government’s ability to take stronger measures in affected areas.
He said ending the practice would require difficult political decisions and a willingness to confront powerful interests that benefit from the illegal mining economy.
“If you want to win this, you will win it. The only thing is that it comes at a certain cost. Politicians will not want to pay,” he said.
He added that the government needed to move away from repeating enforcement strategies that had failed to produce sustainable results and instead develop a comprehensive policy that balances law enforcement, economic survival and environmental protection.
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