A chilling exposé by JoyNews’ Hotline Documentary has uncovered a sophisticated pay-to-destroy syndicate operating in the heart of the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti Region.

The investigation reveals that the assembly have effectively legalised environmental destruction by forming a task force to issue stickers and levying taxes on prohibited mining equipment, including the notorious changfang machines.

Despite a nationwide ban on the use of changfangs—mechanised floating platforms that wash gold directly in water bodies—the documentary captured evidence of a structured payment system.

Miners are reportedly charged GH₵6,000 per year to operate these machines, with the tacit approval of district authorities, essentially granting them a licence to pollute the nation's critical water sources.

The DCE’s admission: Authorising the illegal paper trail

In a startling confrontation captured in the documentary, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Amansie Central, Emmanuel Agyemang, admitted to orchestrating the documentation process that validates these illegal operations.

The DCE justified the move as a revenue-generation exercise, despite the equipment in question being at the centre of Ghana’s environmental crisis.

“I am the one who authorised the printing of the stickers to be brought to the site. Yearly [payment for changfangs] is 6000 or so. Meaning 3000 for every six months,” DCE Emmanuel Agyemang confessed in a recording.

The investigation further revealed that the syndicate extends beyond changfangs.

Operators of heavy-duty excavators are also part of this pay-to-play scheme, paying huge sums to local officials to ensure their equipment is not seized during sporadic military-police "Operation Halt" interventions.

A nation in peril: The catastrophic impact of galamsey

The revelations from Amansie Central provide a grim explanation for why Ghana’s fight against illegal mining, or galamsey, continues to falter.

The involvement of state actors at the local level undermines the "Accra Reset" agenda’s promise of environmental sustainability.

The toll on Ghana’s ecosystem includes:

• Water Crisis: Major rivers such as the Pra, Ankobra, and Birim have seen turbidity levels soar, making them untreatable for Ghana Water Company Limited. Experts warn that Ghana may be forced to import water by 2030 if the trend continues.
• Toxic Contamination: The widespread use of mercury and cyanide in galamsey operations has led to heavy metal accumulation in the soil and food chain, particularly in cocoa-growing regions.
• Forest Depletion: Thousands of hectares of virgin forest reserves have been stripped bare, destroying biodiversity and exacerbating the effects of climate change.
• Economic Sabotage: While the DCE collects GH₵6,000 per machine, the state loses billions in land reclamation costs and the destruction of cocoa farms, which are often cut down to make way for illegal pits.

Calls for immediate dismissal and prosecution

The documentary has sparked immediate outrage among environmental activists and civil society organisations.

Many are calling on President John Dramani Mahama to move beyond his recent recall of diplomatic figures and apply the same zero-tolerance standard to local government appointees.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is being urged to take up the case, as the DCE’s admission constitutes a prima facie case of abuse of office and facilitation of environmental crime.

With Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie having recently established a Specialised High Court for Galamsey, the legal framework for swift prosecution is already in place.

The question remains whether the political will exists to prosecute a sitting DCE whose stickers have signed the death warrant for the forests of Amansie Central.