Ntebe Ayo William, the Member of Parliament for Tatale-Sanguli, has boldly stated that illegal mining, widely known as galamsey, cannot be entirely eradicated in Ghana.
According to the Tatale-Sanguli MP, Ghana can only minimise the impact of galamsey through targeted interventions.
He noted that earlier forms of illegal mining involved basic tools, which caused less environmental damage, adding that the increased use of chanfans and earth-moving equipment like excavators has significantly worsened the scale of destruction.
Speaking on Citi Eyewitness News on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, he explained, “What is galamsey at all? Galamsey is illegal mining. So, if I go to my farm and there is gold there and I decide to mine my gold, that is illegal, that is galamsey. We will control that one. The government is on the point to stop mining in water bodies and in the forest”.
“… you cannot stop galamsey in Ghana. To be honest with you, you can only minimise it. How do you end it? We are fighting it, and we are fighting it in two ways: water and forest. Don’t destroy the forest, don’t pollute the water,” he said.
In related news, President John Dramani Mahama has admitted that illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey, involves individuals across political and traditional structures.
According to John Mahama, he will not kid himself that his own party people are not involved in the galamsey menace.
President Mahama highlighted that the fight against the galamsey menace will be difficult but must continue.
Mahama stressed that operators often shift allegiance when governments change, allowing the practice to continue.
Speaking during a meeting with Organised Labour at the Jubilee House in Accra on Tuesday, March 17, President Mahama stated, “Illegal mining has eaten into the fabric of our society. And I must say that it is not only a menace to our society, but it has involved a circle of traditional rulers, political party appointees and everything”.
“Even when one party changes, those who were running some operation, who went to one party, will go to the next party and say, now that you have come, come and take over this operation and let’s share. We, too, will be getting small; this is what we are doing. And so I don’t kid myself that we don’t have our own people involved,” he stated.
President Mahama further touched on the work of the anti-illegal mining task force NAIMOS, describing it as challenging, especially in communities where resistance is strong.
He added, “And the work of the NAIMOS is not easy. They go to a community, and the chiefs, the youth and everybody come out and resist them. And so, I didn’t kid myself that we would be able to win that fight overnight. But we cannot relent, we must continue”.
“And it doesn’t help when we have a crisis in the cocoa industry. The low price that was paid to cocoa farmers made some of them give up their farms for gold mining,” he noted.
“We are hoping that it will stabilise with the new automatic mechanism we are coming up with so that farmers know that they are getting 70% of the price,” he said.
“One of the problems we have is we don’t have patrol boats, especially on our waterways, for nine months to continue to patrol the waterways,” he explained.
Mahama further added that the Finance, Defence and Interior ministries are working to provide the necessary resources.
“So, we are working with the minister of finance to be able to maintain that,” he said.