, has weighed in on Ghana’s failure to fight ‘galamsey’.){kind=link}
Prof Henry Kwasi Prempeh, the Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC), has weighed in on Ghana’s failure to fight illegal small-scale mining, popularly known as ‘galamsey’.
He highlighted that it is no surprise that Ghana has failed in the fight against galamsey, as the country cannot regulate ‘trotro’, ‘okada’ and check the proliferation of slum settlements on public land.
In a social media post shared on Facebook on September 29, 2025, Prof Henry Kwasi Prempeh stated, “How can a state that cannot regulate trotro, okada, or aboboyaa, or check the proliferation of slum settlements on public land, fight galamsey! BROKEN WINDOWS!”
Still on galamsey, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, has ordered the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations (NAIMOS) Task Force to be firm, resolute and ruthless in the galamsey fight.
According to the Lands Minister, the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations has the full support of President John Dramani Mahama.
Speaking at the deployment of the NAIMOS Task Force in Sunyani on Sunday, September 28, 2025, Armah-Kofi Buah stated, “The fight against illegal mining is not going to stop, and every measure at the Presidency is going to be used. I charge you with a profound sense of duty and patriotism.
Any recalcitrant who enters these zones is not only a trespasser, but also an enemy of the state. You are to be firm, resolute, and ruthless.
“You will take no obtrusive intrusion from any big man. Remember, the biggest man in Ghana is the President, and he is the one who has sent you,” Mr Buah declared.
“The most powerful person in this country, the President, is fully backing you on this mission. The NDC does not and will not endorse what our President is against. In the bush or in a water body, there is no political colour.
So, if anybody goes in the name of a political colour, arrest the person. If anybody comes in the name of the President, also arrest the person,” he said.
Also, Mustapha Gbande, the Deputy Director of Operations at the Presidency, has called on NAIMOS to enforce the law without fear or favour.
He stated, “The most powerful person in this country, the President, is fully backing you on this mission. The NDC does not and will not endorse what our President is against. In the bush or in a water body, there is no political colour.
So, if anybody goes in the name of a political colour, arrest the person. If anybody comes in the name of the President, also arrest the person,” Mustapha Gbande said.
Additionally, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a private legal practitioner and social activist, has said kingpins’ financing of galamsey activities remains untouched.
According to Vormawor, in the government’s galamsey fight so far, Ghanaians have yet to see the arrest of galamsey kingpins.
The social activist demanded a clear roadmap from state agencies on the strategy to fight the menace and criticised the lack of high-profile arrests.
Speaking on TV3 Key Point on September 27, 2025, Oliver Barker-Vormawor stated, “So far, we have yet to see the arrest of the kingpins who are financing galamsey activities”.
He added, “We need a roadmap from the agencies on how best we are fighting the menace”.
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