The Mahama government’s fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, has once again come under scrutiny after the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, declared that the country has “turned the corner” in tackling the menace.
The Land Minister’s optimistic assessment has therefore reignited questions about whether the fight against galamsey is genuinely making progress or whether the government is simply projecting an image of success.
According to the Lands Minister, the Ankobra River has been cleared of thousands of Changfan machines and illegal mining (galamsey) operators following a year of sustained patrols.
Speaking on Thursday, September 3, 2026, after joining NAIMOS and Navy Special Forces on a 16-kilometre patrol of the Ankobra River from Dominase to Gwira Banso in the Western Region, the Lands Minister claimed that the government’s fight against galamsey is clearly yielding results.
Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, during the tour, stated, “I have been informed that we are close to 3000 machines that have been cleared not only on the Ankobra, Birim and other rivers. Over 237 arrests, with 144 of them being foreign nationals.
This clearly shows that we are turning the corner; we are using more intelligent lead operations. We are being intentional about these operations, and the results are showing. We have shifted from the periodic raids and moved into permanent deployment, which is showing these results”.
He further added, “If you have followed this difficult work in the last close to 2 years, you will not be sitting on any TV in Accra talking that we are not making progress with the fight against illegal mining.
You have to come to the Ankobra and look at what the Ankobra looked like last year, and today it is clear. We have not gotten to the point where we want to see the river blue, but we have made great progress changfans machines and the thugs”.
While the government insists that recent interventions are beginning to yield results, many critics argue that the claims amount to little more than “window dressing” in the face of continued destruction of Ghana’s forests and water bodies.
One of those critics is Ken Ashigbey, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, who has warned that Ghana is getting to a point of no return in the menace of illegal mining, locally called galamsey.
According to Ken Ashigbey, there is a growing boldness of illegal miners and attacks on security personnel that point to a worsening galamsey crisis.
He disclosed that there is evidence that shows that galamsey has spread to some areas in Ghana where it was previously absent about two years ago.
Ken Ashigbey argued that Ghana’s best bet at stopping galamsey is under President John Dramani Mahama but warned that the President would become a lame duck soon, as he would no longer be contesting for office.
Speaking in an interview on ChannelOne TV on August 31, 2026, Ken Ashigbey stated, “There are places where we’re seeing galamsey happen today that were not happening in 2024. The level of impudence that we’re seeing today, we’re not seeing it in 2024. One of the elements that we’ve all considered is the issue of forests, the fact that there’s some good work that has been done.
“But if you look at where we are going now, where now the people are becoming so bold that they can attack eight military men with a colonel, they get police people, and they are able to confiscate (their weapons),” he fumed.
He added, “So we are getting to a point of no return, and unfortunately for us, unfortunately, we have a president who does not have another tenure, so our best bet is this current president. Unfortunately, he does not have another two years to deal with it because very soon he will become a lame duck.”
Ken Ashigbey stressed that there is a need for a strong will to ensure that all persons implicated in cases of illegal mining, including politicians and traditional authorities, are dealt with by the laws of the country.
“We need to also deal with the issues that are currently confronting us. So I will not depart from holding the MCEs, DCEs, the chiefs, the police commanders in these communities (accountable),” he said.
Watch the video below:
Lands Minister inspects Ankobra River, hails NAIMOS success#UTVNews pic.twitter.com/dechbS58VJ
— UTV Ghana (@utvghana) September 3, 2026
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