Director of Field Operations of the United Party (UP), Hopeson Adorye, has called for a one-year suspension of small-scale mining across Ghana, arguing that the country must take more drastic measures to confront the growing threat posed by illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

Mr Adorye made the call during an interview on the JoyNews AM Show on Tuesday, August 25, against the backdrop of reports that 23 people have lost their lives in abandoned galamsey pits in the Ashanti Region.

Reacting to the situation, Mr Adorye expressed frustration with what he described as Ghana's failure to take sufficiently decisive action against illegal miners.

He argued that the continued environmental and human cost of illegal mining demonstrated that existing measures were not producing the desired results.

Mr Adorye was particularly critical of the continued deployment of security personnel for anti-galamsey operations without what he believes is a corresponding reduction in illegal mining.

“This fight against galamsey, for me, I see it as a joke,” he said, questioning why the country continues to spend resources on military operations while illegal mining persists.

Calls for tougher enforcement

In strongly worded remarks, Mr Adorye advocated tougher measures against illegal miners.

He added that the authorities needed to move beyond what he described as a conciliatory approach towards illegal miners.

“Let us go further and then stop this romance,” he said, arguing that enforcement agencies should adopt a much firmer strategy.

He also questioned the continued cost of deploying military personnel for anti-galamsey operations when, in his view, the underlying problem remained unresolved.

“Then it's better we keep the military in Burma Camp so that they can also take some rest than spend money on them and still have them kill us. Why?” he asked.

One-year suspension of small-scale mining

Mr Adorye's central proposal is for President John Dramani Mahama to impose a one-year ban on small-scale mining as part of a national environmental recovery programme.

“The president must ban mining for one year. It will work. If we want to do it, small-scale galamseyers, all of them,” he said.

He made a distinction between small-scale operations and large, established mining companies, arguing that large-scale companies that comply with environmental regulations should not necessarily be subjected to the same restriction.

Pay miners to reclaim degraded land

Rather than simply banning small-scale miners and leaving thousands of people without an income, Mr Adorye proposed that the government should redirect those workers into environmental restoration.

He suggested that miners currently engaged in galamsey could be employed to plant trees, reclaim abandoned mining sites, and rehabilitate degraded land.

Under his proposal, the state would effectively transform miners from environmental destroyers into participants in a nationwide reclamation programme.

He believes such an approach could provide an alternative livelihood while simultaneously addressing the environmental damage caused by illegal mining.

“By the end of the year, we can recover all these degraded lands,” he said.

Mr Adorye further argued that the reclamation programme could help restore Ghana's polluted rivers and streams.

The UP official said the proposed one-year suspension would give Ghana a defined period in which to focus exclusively on restoring areas already damaged by mining.

“By a year's time, you will see all our rivers clean,” he said.

He contrasted his proposal with the current approach, pointing to the activities of NAIMOS and questioning whether existing interventions have produced sufficient results.

Hopeson Adorye believes that if the government bans small-scale mining and galamsey for one year and uses the affected miners for land reclamation and tree planting, Ghana can restore its degraded lands and polluted water bodies.