President John Dramani Mahama invites Civil Society Organisations to a high-level engagement on illegal mining.
The meeting is scheduled for Friday, 3rd October, 2025, at 12:00 noon at Jubilee House.
The dialogue is expected to bring together government officials and civil society leaders to find a lasting solution to the menace of illegal mining.
In a letter issued by Dr Callistus Mahama, Secretary to the President, it indicates the dialogue will serve as a platform for frank and constructive discussions on illegal mining.
The letter stated, “This engagement aims to provide a platform for frank and constructive dialogue between the Government and civil society on the menace of illegal mining, with a view to harnessing collective expertise, perspectives, and solutions to address this national challenge”.
President Mahama’s invitation comes at a time when his government have been receiving backlash over their failure to properly deal with illegal mining.
Meanwhile, 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.
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.
Furthermore, 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 menance”.
Also, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, in a separate interview, warned President John Dramani Mahama that the illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, will haunt him even if the cedi goes to GHC6 to a dollar.
According to Vormawor, no economic gains can erase the galamsey stain on Mahama’s legacy.
He argued that, even if the economy records significant growth, neglecting the fight against illegal mining would undermine the administration’s credibility.
Speaking in an interview on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, September 24, Barker-Vormawor warned, “Anybody who feels that if the cedi were to go to GHC6 to a dollar, the galamsey question is not going to leave the President, it’s going to haunt him.”
Oliver Barker-Vormawor further highlighted that the John Mahama government’s credibility has been dented by failed galamsey promises.
He noted that the government has already fallen short of its own commitments by failing to repeal Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2462 within its first 120 days.
The social activist added, “The truth is we’re facing an environmental crisis of proportions that none of us have ever imagined. The responses to it must consistently reassure public trust in the way you want to move.
The first thing the government promised us in its social contract was that within 120 days, it would repeal L. I 2462, and it comes in and does the opposite. Already you are sending signals”.
“When you send signals on some of the low-hanging fruit like that, it doesn’t create the impression that you are serious about it. Some of the back and forth of some of the people sent to the field involved in extorting money is a credibility denter. The deportation of the Chinese nationals involved in galamsey is a credibility denter,” Barker-Vormawor stressed.
See the statement below:
