Convener of the Media Coalition Against Illegal Mining, Dr Ken Ashigbey, has called on the government to target the financiers and powerful individuals behind illegal mining, saying that Ghana cannot win the fight against galamsey unless the kingpins are brought to justice.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Thursday, July 16, Dr Ashigbey said investigators should focus on tracing the financial networks that sustain illegal mining operations.

"If we follow the money, we will be able to get to the kingpins," he said.

He warned that illicit financial flows linked to artisanal and small-scale mining posed a serious threat to the country, adding that the problem went beyond environmental destruction.

"It's a major risk that, as a country, we are facing. The issues of illicit cash flows are being linked to our artisanal and small-scale mining," he stated.

Dr Ashigbey also cautioned that Ghana's international financial reputation could suffer if authorities failed to tackle money laundering connected to illegal mining.

He said that Ghana is already on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list and stressed the need to avoid further sanctions.

"And the FATF people, they came to do a review. And in this country, we are already on the gray scale."

"One of the things we don't want to do as a country is to move back to being blacklisted. So it is important that we deal with these people who are pushing this thing," he said.

The anti-illegal mining campaigner further claimed that influential people across different sectors of society were involved in the illicit trade, making enforcement difficult.

Recalling a recent visit to the Akyem area, where the Media Coalition Against Illegal Mining donated menstrual hygiene products to women and girls, Dr Ashigbey said a traditional leader made a startling admission during the event.

"There was one of the chiefs who said about 80 per cent of the chiefs in the communities are involved in galamsey. He said this openly and publicly," he recounted.

According to him, the problem extends beyond traditional authorities.

"We have leadership at the traditional level. We have leadership in politics. We have leadership in business. We have leadership in the security apparatus who are all involved in it," he alleged.

Dr Ashigbey said the influence of these powerful individuals has made it difficult for state institutions to effectively enforce the law.

"Because they are powerful, if we don't deal with them, this issue will not go away. The Minister for Lands will not be able to prosecute," he said.

He therefore called for a coordinated national response involving the Attorney General, the Judiciary, and other state institutions to dismantle the networks behind illegal mining.

"We need to appeal to the Attorney General. We also need to appeal to the Chief Justice. There should be a concerted effort to deal with this existential threat," he urged.

Dr Ashigbey said such an approach would also help distinguish genuine small-scale miners from those engaged in illegal mining.

"We need to separate those who are doing legal small-scale mining and responsible cooperative mining from the illicit activities that are destroying our environment and putting the entire country at risk," he said.

He said that the fight against illegal mining would continue to face setbacks unless the masterminds behind the operations were identified and prosecuted.

Read also: Illegal mining persists because some state officials are failing to act — Ken Ashigbey

"If we don't deal with the kingpins, it will be difficult to fight. It's not surprising that people in the towns are almost indifferent because they know the powerful people who are behind all these things. So it is important that we deal with the kingpins."