JoyNews journalist, Erastus Asare Donkor, says while the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Squad (NAIMOS) is making some progress in the fight against illegal mining (galamsey), it cannot be considered a lasting solution to the problem.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, October 11, Mr Donkor said that despite several arrests and seizures by NAIMOS and the Ghana Police Service, the fight against galamsey continues to follow a “firefighting approach” instead of tackling the root causes of the menace.

“We have made a series of arrests. The IGP's men seized over 100 excavators that are currently parked in Samraboi where I’m monitoring closely. They’ve made some gains, but you realise that we keep going back to the same thing again and again because I see it as a firefighting approach,” he explained.

Mr Donkor acknowledged NAIMOS’ capacity and commitment but said that the squad’s work could only yield short-term gains if local government authorities were not held accountable.

“I do not doubt the capacity of NAIMOS. Yes, they are capable and they can do it, but I see them as a rapid response rather than a solution to the problem,” he said.

“If we do not make sure that District Chief Executives (DCEs), who are heads of DISECs are held strictly accountable for what happens within their jurisdictions, the people will return to the sites the moment NAIMOS leaves.”

He urged President John Mahama’s administration to take decisive action against DCEs and local officials who fail to enforce anti-galamsey laws or engage in acts of deception.

Citing an example, Mr Donkor recounted how a DCE allegedly attempted to mislead the public after his team exposed pollution of key rivers by illegal miners.

“Recently, we filmed illegal mining polluting the Bissi and Subri rivers, which are tributaries of the Tano River. When we put it out, the DCE for Tano North went with chiefs to a totally different area and filmed a clean Bissi to deceive the public. This was carefully calculated to sway attention from the action going on downstream,” he said.

According to him, such actions undermine national efforts to fight illegal mining and must not go unpunished.

“If the President does not crack down on such DCEs and appointees at the local level, then we’ll keep going back and forth just as we witnessed in the Akufo-Addo administration,” he warned.

Mr Donkor also raised concerns about the lack of prosecutions despite several arrests made by the task force.

“We are making serious arrests, quite a number of them. But what has happened to prosecutions? How many have been prosecuted or are even lined up to be prosecuted? The deterrence factor is missing,” he said, calling on both the media and authorities to follow up on cases to ensure justice.

He pointed out that many local security officials were compromised, weakening the enforcement of anti-galamsey measures.

“Many of the police officers at the local and municipal levels are compromised. When the local security is compromised in that manner, it undermines the efforts of NAIMOS,” he said.

“NAIMOS should come in only when local forces are overwhelmed. But we must not rely on them entirely. There must be a consistent, coordinated kind of fight if we really want to achieve results,” he added.