Political analysts have offered contrasting assessments of President Mahama’s handling of Ghana’s illegal mining crisis, with University of Ghana’s Dr. Joshua Zaato challenging claims that the president is responsive to public concerns.
Zaato pointed to unheeded calls from religious and civil society groups for a state of emergency and repeal of mining legislation as evidence of governmental inaction.
The debate follows renewed pressure from anti-galamsey advocates, including Shippers Authority CEO Professor Ransford Gyampo, who revealed ongoing political interference in enforcement efforts. “The more they fight galamsey, the more it persists,” Gyampo noted, highlighting resistance from party affiliates against the Interior Minister and police leadership. Civil society coalition leader Kenneth Ashigbey has intensified demands for immediate revocation of Legislative Instrument 2462, which permits forest reserve mining, calling current government measures inadequate.
As environmental degradation accelerates, the discourse reflects growing public frustration with political solutions to the galamsey crisis, with activists warning that Ghana’s water security and ecological future hang in the balance.
