Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, has said the country has partly succeeded in the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, with the scale of destruction to water bodies and forest reserves reducing due to ongoing interventions.

Speaking on JoyPrime on Wednesday, July 22, Mr Gbande credited the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and the National Strategic Coordinator for their efforts in strengthening measures to tackle illegal mining activities.

"We have partly succeeded, and I'm saying this to the credit of the Minister for Lands and also the National Strategic Coordinator. He's been able to help us in many ways."

He said previous interventions such as Operation Vanguard had come and gone, but the current approach had yielded results, particularly in dealing with mining activities affecting river bodies and forest reserves.

"We've seen Operation Vanguard; we've seen all of these operations come and go, but currently, as we speak, a team that has been put in place I was in Sunyani with the Lands and Natural Resources Minister to commission that team they've been able to dismantle a lot of the river body mining and forest reserve mining."

He, however, argued that some forms of small-scale mining, particularly alluvial mining, should be properly regulated rather than completely stopped, especially in communities where mining remains the main source of livelihood.

"The alluvial mining in terms of surface mining is one that has to be regularised. It has to be transitional. It means government itself must find a way where the Minerals Commission and EPA consolidate themselves to fast-track documentation for these people."

Mr Gbande said while mining communities must be supported, operators must also be held responsible and guided to follow responsible mining practices.

"There are villages in Ghana where they know nothing apart from mining. The fact that they want to mine means the state must hold them responsible, and if you teach them to do the right thing, then they will do the right thing."

Forest mining attracts severe consequences

Mr Gbande warned that illegal mining in forest reserves would continue to attract strong enforcement measures, stressing that protecting Ghana’s natural resources remained a priority.

Currently, if you mine in the forest, you are just like a terrorist, and you can be killed. Any time the NAIMOS team will have to go into a forest, they are armed to the teeth. "

He said the operations were aimed at protecting national resources and ensuring that no individual was placed above the country's environmental interests.

"Nobody is important than the forest. That is what the president has declared, and it is being done."

He also highlighted the role of water guards trained by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to provide intelligence on illegal mining activities along water bodies.

"The Minister has trained a lot of water guards who serve as informants. They give information on the river bodies, and then a reinforcement team comes in to deal with that."

Reclamation remains a challenge

Despite the progress made, Mr Gbande admitted that reclaiming lands destroyed by illegal mining remains one of the biggest challenges facing the country.

"What we haven't been able to deal with is reclamation. The Minister says it's budgetary. Once there is budget, the state will now have to, on a full scale, reclaim and repair the land."

He maintained that while galamsey had not been eliminated, the level of environmental destruction had reduced.

"The scale of devastation, the scale of it, has come down. It's difficult to stop it. Anybody who tells you that the galamsey fight is easy is lying."

Responding to claims that the NDC exaggerated concerns about illegal mining, Mr Gbande rejected the assertion, insisting that the party had raised genuine concerns about the environmental impact of the practice.

"No, we were not lying. If you want, I will travel with you. You will see pits, devastation from the previous regime, and you will see what individuals tried to do, and they have been stopped."

He said the current enforcement measures had created fear among illegal miners because of the possibility of military intervention.

"The scale has come down, but there's a force of fear that when they come in, the military will come in and do what they have to do to stop you."

Mr Gbande added that the government was also working to introduce regulated small-scale mining schemes in communities where mining activities could not be completely stopped.

"The Minister himself is going around instituting small-scale cooperative mining schemes for villagers in places where we believe they cannot stop mining. They are regularising the activities and ensuring that it is being done properly."