The Executive Director of the Ghana Environmental Advocacy Group, Elizabeth Alua Vaah, has expressed concern about the involvement of security officials in illegal mining activities.

According to her, security officials have allegedly shielded both local and foreign individuals involved in these activities, resulting in the continuous destruction of vital forest reserves without facing any legal repercussions.

Additionally, Mrs Vaah pointed out a troubling case in Axim where a young man who was an illegal miner reported illegal mining operations after being cheated. He was subsequently imprisoned but there has been no update about the security officials who were involved.

“The Axim one I mentioned, I understand the young man is in jail now and I keep asking myself, what happened to the policemen because if we listen carefully he had been working for them until he got tired of being 'robbed of working for nothing'. That was when he accosted them eventually, " she said on the AM Show on JoyNews.

"You have been trained as a security officer on the Ghanaian taxpayer’s dime and instead of protecting the country, protecting the people, you are rather protecting those who are sabotaging, devouring the country. They should even be punished more," she added.

Mrs Vaah expressed concern regarding the justice system, alleging that individuals in positions of power, including security forces and civilians, often evade accountability due to their connections with influential figures.

She emphasised the impact of top-level impunity and cautioned that without holding those at the helm of affair accountable, this trend could perpetuate, allowing people to escape consequences for their actions.

According to her, the conduct of security personnel tends to align with the directives of those who appointed them.

“If they say for allowing so and so to happen without any consequence you lose your job, you think they will just watch these things happen and no consequences, no but right now in the country, it’s like depending on who you know, you can do whatever it is and get away with it. It permeates every aspect of our lives right now so discipline is not there, there is no accountability and nobody is held accountable for what they do”.