Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has declared that Ghana is beginning to win the war against illegal mining, citing the dramatic transformation of the Ankobra River as evidence of significant progress in the government’s sustained fight against galamsey.
The Minister made the declaration yesterday after joining personnel of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) and Special Forces on a 16-kilometre inspection tour of the Ankobra River, under the second phase of Operation Water Shield, a renewed effort to protect Ghana’s water bodies from illegal mining activities.
According to Mr. Armah-Kofi Buah, the Ankobra, which he described as having previously been turned into a virtual workshop for the manufacture and deployment of mining equipment had now been substantially cleared of changfan machines and other makeshift equipment that had been used to destroy the river.
He said the operation had so far resulted in the removal of close to 3,000 mining machines from the Ankobra, Pra, Birim and other rivers, while more than 237 arrests had been made, including 144 foreign nationals.
The Minister said the figures, coupled with what he personally witnessed on the Ankobra, during the tour, demonstrated that the country was moving away from sporadic enforcement operations towards sustained and intelligence-led deployments.
“I am very confident that we are winning this war and the impunity is going away,” Mr. Armah-Kofi Buah said in an exclusive interview with The Chronicle after the tour.
He said although the government had not yet reached the stage where it wanted to see the country’s rivers restored to their natural blue colour, the progress recorded on the Ankobra represented a significant milestone.
“I have not gotten to the point where we want them to be as blue as we want, but what I have seen today warms my heart,” he said.
Ankobra no longer a galamsey workshop
The Minister recalled his previous visit to the Ankobra about a year ago, saying the situation he encountered at the time was markedly different from what he saw during yesterday’s inspection.
“I actually visited the Ankobra in the last one year when the whole river was basically a workshop where changfan machines were being manufactured left and right.
“They were all over the river. But today, I can tell you that through all the mileage we have covered, the Ankobra is completely cleared of changfan machines and cleared of other makeshift equipment.”
He said the disappearance of armed groups and illegal mining operators from the river were equally significant.
According to him, the authorities previously encountered heavily armed groups operating along sections of the river, but the sustained presence of security personnel had changed the situation.
“The thugs that were wielding guns are all gone. Today we don’t see thugs along the Ankobra pointing guns at security forces because they know they will pay a price, and they are going to pay a price,” he said.
Mr. Armah-Kofi Buah said the transformation was not the result of a single operation, but a deliberate decision by government to maintain personnel on the affected water bodies for as long as necessary.
From raids to permanent deployments
The Minister said the second phase of Operation Water Shield represented a fundamental shift in the strategy for combating illegal mining.
He explained that, rather than conducting occasional raids and leaving the affected areas afterwards, government was now adopting permanent deployments designed to prevent illegal miners from returning.
“Operation Water Shield is not something we are stopping. It is basically changing the face of this fight, especially in the protection of our water bodies, making sure that we stay on permanently to fight all the way to the end,” he said.
During the pre-tour briefing, Mr. Armah-Kofi Buah assured Ghanaians that the security personnel deployed along the Ankobra would not be withdrawn simply because the immediate illegal mining activities had been disrupted.
“We want to make sure that we are not leaving the Ankobra. We are going to be here as long as it takes to make sure that this water is clean,” he said.
He said the experience of the past had shown that withdrawing security personnel too early created opportunities for illegal miners to return.
“It is also very clear to us that you leave and they come back. But we are going to be here as long as it takes,” he stressed.
Young miners changing course
Mr. Armah-Kofi Buah also pointed to what he described as an encouraging behavioural change among some young people who were previously engaged in illegal mining.
He said a number of young people who had been operating illegally along the Ankobra had now moved into organised cooperative and responsible small-scale mining programmes.
“A lot of the young people that last year were here have all moved into cooperative mining and joined small-scale mining programmes,” he said.
He explained that government was combining enforcement with training and capacity building to demonstrate that Ghanaians could extract gold without destroying rivers and forests.
“You can look for gold without destroying our water bodies and our forests. You can look for gold without damaging our environment. You can look for gold responsibly and sustainably, and that is the future we are looking for,” he said.
The Minister believes the combination of enforcement, training, cooperative mining and other interventions is beginning to yield results.
‘We will not waver’
While acknowledging that the fight against illegal mining remained difficult, Mr. Armah-Kofi Buah who is also the Member of Parliament for the good people of Ellembelle said government would not relent in its efforts.
He said the removal of the machines from the rivers was only one part of the battle, stressing that government was now turning its attention to the powerful individuals and financiers behind illegal mining operations.
“The machines that destroy it, the excavators we’ve seized, those behind them are powerful forces that are hiding in the dark, and our next phase is continuing to fish them out,” he said.
“We are going to continue to fight all the way – those sponsors, those financiers – until we win this fight,” he added.
He said the government’s resolve was strengthened by the support of Ghanaians who, according to him, could now see the difference between the condition of some water bodies two years ago and their current state.
“If we are able to remove 3,000 changfan machines within a short period, if we are able to make over 237 arrests just on river bodies and destroy all these makeshift equipment and activities here within this period, you know what it gives us? Hope that we are on the right course,” he said.
Mr. Armah-Kofi Buah further commended the NAIMOS team, Colonel Appiah and the Special Forces for their collaboration in the operation.
He said President John Mahama remained keenly interested in the progress of Operation Water Shield and was “rooting” for the success of the campaign.
Integrity at the centre of the fight
The Minister also used the occasion to make a personal pledge to the Ghanaian people that the fight against illegal mining would be pursued with integrity.“I would choose to fight with integrity and die than being corrupted in this dangerous world that will destroy all of us,” he said.
He added that the government would continue to support the security agencies and enforcement teams until the country’s water bodies were adequately protected.
The 16-kilometre inspection of the Ankobra formed part of the second phase of Operation Water Shield, which is aimed at sustaining security operations along Ghana’s major rivers and preventing illegal miners from returning to areas from which they have been cleared.
For Mr. Armah-Kofi Buah, the Ankobra now offers a visible measure of what sustained enforcement can achieve. “We are not where we want to be,” he acknowledged.
“But if you ask me what we inherited and compare it with the Ankobra today, I am very clear that we are making great progress. We can say without any obstruction that we are winning this fight.”
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