GAAS opens 3-day Public Forum on Galamsey

The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences is organising a 3-day Public Forum in Accra with a focus on Galamsey and its significant impact on the country and environment.

The Public Forum, which has drawn great participation from public officials, academics, journalists and selected students from Secondary schools in Accra, is on the theme, “Galamsey Revisited”.

The event seeks to engage various stakeholders across the spectrum on the devastating effects of Galamsey or unregulated mining on the sustainable development efforts of the country and how best policies can be undertaken to mitigate the pitfalls of this national emergency.

The event was held from June 2 to June 4, 2025, at the premises of the Academy in Accra.

Speaking at the Forum, the Keynote Speaker, Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey intimated that the scourge of Galamsey has pillaged our forests and sources of livelihood and such entities like the Forestry Commission must be empowered to seize the equipment being used by illegal miners for such destruction and the state must surcharge the offenders for the cost of pollution.

It is an indictment on our leaders and general society that we have allowed selfish individuals with commercial interests and zero regard for environmental sustainability to pillage our forests, rivers and protected spaces for private gain whilst leadership looks on unconcerned.

It is high time we empower existing state institutions like the Forestry and Minerals Commissions to apply the laws of the land with regard to mining to the latter, by seizing equipment used by unregulated miners to deplete our environment all across the country with reckless abandon, which attracts little to no sanctions by officialdom.

Coupled with that, the polluter pays principle that these bodies use to checkmate large-scale mining entities in the country must be made to apply to all these unpatriotic individuals destroying our very continued existence.”

Also, Dr Kenneth Ashigbey added that he supports calls by concerned stakeholders, including the Academy, that the state must be willing to prosecute all politically exposed persons involved in galamsey as a point of reference in the fight against the scourge.

He called for the repeal of Legislative Instrument (2462) which permits mining in forest reserves and was of the view that all persons arrested by security operatives in anti-galamsey operations across the country, whether foreign or local must be dealt with per the law when it comes to securing prison convictions after the courts declare same.

I agree with the Academy with the Academy, that there must be proactive and consistent steps by officialdom to repudiate Legislative Instrument (2462) in the short term and make sure that all such individuals (foreign or indigenous) caught up in this ugly scourge of ‘galamsey’ be dealt with strongly in accordance with existing laws to serve as a strong deterrent for society.

We cannot fold our arms and throw them in despair whilst these individuals commit environmental injustice against the state, which puts our continued existence into a perilous situation.”

In a related development, Second Keynote Speaker and award-winning Journalist, Erastus Asare Donkor, bemoaned the fact that despite the public uproar against the depletion of protected areas through unregulated mining as exposed through his documentaries, the menace keeps going on daily without little to no active interventions by the state in such areas.

He revealed that a total of 45 forest reserves and protected areas across the country have been invaded and defiled by these unregulated miners, with serious complications for surrounding communities and inhabitants of those areas surrounded by these reserves.

There is a clear fact that state actors involving political leadership, security agencies and regulatory bodies in Ghana have not done near enough to safeguard the environment given the situational reports my team and I keep picking up on a daily basis.

Sadly, these illegal activities have affected 45 forest reserves and protected areas all across the country, which has a severe impact on our continued existence as a nation. Most of the damage by the unregulated miners spread across not only reserves but water bodies that take their source from same areas.

The resultant effects are what we see in health hazards that manifest in people who drink from these water resources and breathe in toxic air caused by the dangerous chemicals used by the miners in extracting the gold ore and which health professionals have estimated will cost the state huge amounts of Ghana cedis to deal with once there is a public health crisis.

Politicians and their private cronies hijacked control of lawful entities like the Minerals and Forestry Commissions and other allied regulators in the space, which makes it difficult for officials to take independent decisions to safeguard our environment for both present and future generations.

We need strong and committed state institutions with operational and fiscal autonomy to take the bull by the horns, and rein in such evil acts which enrich a select few to the detriment of the entire nation.”