Former Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr Henry Kwabena Kokofu, has called for a fundamental shift in Ghana’s fight against illegal small-scale mining.

He argues that state institutions, rather than politicians, must be placed at the centre of the effort for it to succeed.

Speaking on Citi FM on Wednesday, December 17, Dr Kokofu said successive governments have relied too heavily on politically driven approaches, which he believes have consistently failed to produce lasting results.

According to him, the persistent use of politicians as the face of the anti-galamsey campaign has weakened enforcement and undermined institutional authority.

“It takes the use of state institutions that can help. The current situation and the past situation where politicians are put in the forefront in the fight against galamsey have proven not to be worth it. It is not working,” he said.

Dr Kokofu pointed to the first term of President John Dramani Mahama as a key example, describing it as the first time a sitting president directly confronted the illegal mining menace. However, he noted that the strategy faltered because political actors were placed at the forefront of the campaign.

“President Mahama in his first term was the first president in this country to have taken the battle against galamsey head on, and he failed. Between 2012 and 2014, it couldn’t work because politicians were put in the forefront. We had the inter-ministerial committee on galamsey and we all saw the results,” he stated.

He also acknowledged that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo administration initially recorded some success after assuming office in 2017, attributing those gains to stronger enforcement measures.

However, Dr Kokofu said the momentum was lost over time, especially during the government’s second term.

“The first real battle that was won against galamsey was chalked under the Akufo-Addo government. But going forward, we lost it, particularly in the second term,” he said, adding that the failure to sustain the fight had serious political and environmental consequences.

Dr Kokofu stressed that without empowering independent state institutions to lead enforcement efforts, Ghana risks repeating the same mistakes in its ongoing struggle against illegal mining.