Roadblock
Ghana’s Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, says the slow pace of criminal trials and grant of bail to illegal miners who return to…
Ghana’s Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, says the slow pace of criminal trials and grant of bail to illegal miners who return to sites hamper the fight against “galamsey.” The talk regarding illegal mining is on the front burner following a report by former Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, on alleged high-level government complicity in illegal mining. Dame said 119 criminal cases involving the prosecution of about 727 individuals for offences connected with illegal mining have been at the High Court and some circuit courts around the country since January 2022.
The fight against illegal mining, known as “galamsey” in Ghana, has been long, arduous and increasingly political. The country’s efforts between 2017 and 2021 led to the arrest of hundreds of illegal Chinese miners, working either as sponsors or workers at illegal mining sites. According to the Minerals Commission, Ghana has about 250 registered small-scale mining groups and 90 mine-support-service companies. However, thousands of illegal miners operate without permits or regard for the law. Some of them are sponsored by foreign nationals, especially from China, who provide them with equipment and capital. It is estimated that more than 200,000 people were directly engaged in “galamsey” as of 2017, and nearly three million rely on it for their livelihoods. According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, in 2017, the country attracted 50,000 “gold seekers” from China alone, with one “galamsey” kingpin allegedly employing over 300 Chinese migrant workers and Ghanaians. The AG’s statement comes at a time when the issue of illegal mining has resurfaced in the public discourse following the Boateng report on alleged high-level government complicity in the practice. The report leaked to the media, accused some government officials and security personnel of conniving with Chinese nationals and local chiefs to engage in illegal mining and sabotage the efforts of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM). In one of its more explosive revelations, the report said the intervention of President Akufo-Addo’s cousin, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, secured the release of some arrested Chinese engaged in illegal mining in the Ashanti Region. Prof Frimpong-Boateng’s report added that soldiers providing security services to Otchere-Darko’s client’s mining company attacked an inspection team of the task force set up to investigate the mining industry. Data for 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020 received from the Ghana Prisons Service through a right-to-information (RTI) request showed that 220 people were jailed for illegal mining offences. These were mainly Ghanaians and other West African nationals. However, official data showed that as of July 2021, only two Chinese nationals were in the country’s prisons. This is not altogether surprising considering that some of the biggest Chinese culprits in illegal mining and logging, whose arrests dominated national headlines for weeks, were set free under inexplicable circumstances. Before 2013, the Ghanaian government paid little attention to the proliferation of Chinese involvement in the small-scale mining sector. Although the government passed the Minerals and Mining Act in 2006, the law was undermined by corrupt officials who were incentivised to look the other way. When the media began reporting on unlicensed mining in 2013, the government felt pressured to respond. The John Mahama government established a task force-the Inter-Ministerial Task Force Against Illegal Mining, phases 1 & 2-made up of military personnel and other state security forces. The task force was instrumental in deporting over 4,500 Chinese miners and seizing mining equipment, but it also attempted to curtail domestic illegal mining operators. During the 2016 presidential and parliamentary election season, the Mahama administration held back on domestic enforcement as some communities threatened to vote against it for attempting to stop them from working in unauthorised mines. After Mahama’s electoral defeat, the new government sought to reinforce the ban on illegal mining. Nana Akufo-Addo’s government launched Operation Vanguard, which deployed 400 military and police officials in centres of illegal mining. The National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme was also implemented to train those previously involved in small-scale mining for work in other sectors. There was also the most recent intervention called “Operation Halt.” But all have failed to tackle the phenomenon appropriately. Another election is imminent, and at-risk politicians tend to abandon their fight against illegal mining. The reality is that galamsey operators know the importance of their votes for incumbent political parties and have often exploited the political vulnerability of those in power during election years. Therefore, illegal mining has persisted not because of weak state capacity but primarily due to political leniency and law enforcement corruption. The Attorney-General’s lamentation reflects the frustration of many Ghanaians who want to end this criminal behaviour and its devastating consequences. It also raises questions about the effectiveness of the legal system and enforcement agencies. What are the factors that hinder the prosecution and conviction of illegal miners? What loopholes allow them to secure bail and resume their activities? What are the roles and responsibilities of the judiciary, the police, the military and other stakeholders in ensuring justice is served? These are some of the questions that need to be answered if Ghana is to win this fight. Any anti-galamsey crusade that fails to tackle the political drivers of the problem is unlikely to succeed.