President John Mahama has served notice that his administration is shifting its focus from low-level perpetrators to the powerful financiers and orchestrators behind Ghana's devastating illegal mining crisis, known locally as galamsey.

Delivering his State of the Nation Address to Parliament on Friday, President Mahama described illegal mining as a "grave threat" to the nation's environment, water bodies, public health, and national security.

He acknowledged that previous enforcement efforts have often failed to capture those most responsible.

"Mr. Speaker, prosecution of persons engaged in illegal mining has been intense," President Mahama told the gathered lawmakers.

However, he noted a critical flaw in past approaches, stating that efforts have been "behind Galamsey operations, rather than targeting only the little fish, low-level offenders."

"Mr. Speaker, in all these Galamsey operations, there are big fish who never get caught," the President declared, signaling a significant change in strategy.

To address this, President Mahama announced the deployment of specialized prosecutorial teams tasked with accelerating the legal process and ensuring that justice reaches the upper echelons of the illicit trade.

He revealed that there are 140 communities, particularly towns and villages, that are highly prone to these illegal mining activities.

These new teams, he explained, have a specific mandate.

"Specialized prosecutorial teams have been deployed to fast-track illegal mining cases, ensure the effective presentation of evidence, and pursue the confiscation and forfeiture of equipment and proceeds used in or derived from illegal mining."

The President's statement signals a renewed crackdown on galamsey, which has for years wreaked havoc on Ghana's forest reserves and polluted river bodies.

By vowing to target the financiers and beneficiaries, the so-called "big fish", the government aims to dismantle the economic networks that sustain the illegal operations.