The Forest Plantation Development Fund Board Chairman, Professor Martin Oteng-Ababio, has warned against demands for a state of emergency to combat illegal mining, stressing that lasting remedies are required to deal with the problem.
Appearing on Channel One TV’s Face to Face on Tuesday, May 26, he maintained that tackling illegal mining, widely called galamsey, demands a stronger grasp of the forces fueling the practice instead of quick, heavy-handed actions.
“State of emergency is not the way. It is about understanding the mathematics in it and trying to find an antidote,” he said.
He noted that the battle against galamsey must be viewed as an extended effort, not a single strike.
“This fight is a process, not an action. Our ability to sustain the fight is the cardinal point in this game,” he stated.
‘Professor Oteng-Ababio also doubted the impact of deploying soldiers to curb illegal mining, saying earlier methods have not delivered durable outcomes.
“The fight against illegal mining or the use of the military to fight illegal mining has not been successful and will never be successful unless and until we understand the basic principle underpinning what they are doing,” he said.
He further contended that military operations in the anti-galamsey campaign are rarely impartial and usually hit the poor harder than the actual backers of the activities.
“Because the use of the military is neither apolitical nor in fact it is almost always the poor who suffer. Those who own them go free,” he added. His remarks contribute to the continuing national conversation on the most effective strategy to address illegal mining, which still endangers Ghana’s rivers, woodlands and croplands.
