Mahama’s biggest headache since he assumed office is galamsey – Mussa Dankwah

President John Dramani Mahama’s major challenges since he became president on Janury 7 2025 has been the issue of illegal small-scale mining (Galamsey), Executive Director of Global InfoAnalytics Mussa Dankwah, has said.

Mussah Dankwa says that Ghanaians are waiting to see the real results of the government’s fight against galamsey’.

“Mahama’s biggest headache since he assumed office. There are powerful men involved from all indications. We are waiting to see real results from the galamsey fight,” he wrote on Facebook.

Earlier, a Research Fellow at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) Dr Kwame Sarpong Asiedu told President Mahama to declare a state of emergency due to illegal small-scale mining, insisting that the galamseyers must be treated as hardcore criminals.

Mussah Dankwa and Sarpong Asiedu were reacting to reports that armed illegal miners ambushed and attacked members of the Forestry Commission’s Rapid Response team wounding one critically.

In a post on his Facebook page, Dr Asiedua said “At this stage we are at war and we must understand it. Anyone who says we should treat these guys with kids gloves is part of the problem.

“Try this in China and see what the China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will do. There will not be a single thug brought out of the forest alive. Soon the Forest guards will refuse to enter these forests for the fear of their lives.

“They have families too. This is why a State of Emergency must be declared and these social misfits treated like the hardcore criminals they are.”

Similarly, Convener of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey Ken Ashigbey insisted that a state of emergency should be declared in the areas affected by illegal small-scale mining as part of the fight.

He believed that the state of emergency will provide more impetus to stakeholders charged with the responsibility to nip the practice in the bud.

“We still demand the imposition of a state of emergency in the illegal mining fight. We also need to put in place a system where we can track all active excavators in Ghana,” he said on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, March 22.

Ken Ashigbey further said that efforts should be made to unearth the real owners of the excavators brought into the country for illegal mining.

He suggested that the chassis numbers of the excavators can be used to track the real owners.

“If you take the chassis number you will be able to trace it to who owns it,” he said.

He added, “we should look for the sources of the funding for the excavators, they should trace the money…we are waiting for the Minister to publish the list of those who imported into the country then we know who are bringing it.”

The Executive Director of A Rocha, Daryl Bossu also said that a lot of the country’s forest reserves are currently under siege by illegal small-scale miners.

READ ALSO: Galamsey: A lot of our forest reserves are currently under siege – Daryl Bosu

He says the number of forests captured by the illegal miners is more than the 44 put out by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.

“A lot of the forests are experiencing illegal mining, eating away the forests. We have more than 44 forest reserves affected by illegal mining,” he said on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, March 22.

He further noted that the present government inherited the situation. “And I sympathise with them because it gives them a lot of work to do,” he said.

 

The post Mahama’s biggest headache since he assumed office is galamsey – Mussa Dankwah first appeared on 3News.

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