President John Dramani Mahama says soldiers will remain in all nine forest reserves cleared of illegal mining to stop galamsey operators from returning.
The reserves had been designated red zones because of widespread environmental damage and the presence of heavily armed illegal miners. The President said military personnel had now secured the sites and would continue to guard them.
“We have now cleared all nine of those red zones. There are no galamsey operators in those forest reserves, and we have stationed soldiers there to ensure that the illegal miners do not return. The soldiers will remain in those areas,” he said.
President Mahama was speaking during a courtesy call by chiefs from the Western North Region. He used the meeting to urge traditional authorities to work more closely with the government to maintain progress in the campaign against illegal mining.
Why the military presence will continue
The President said earlier operations had not always produced lasting results because illegal miners returned after soldiers left and forest guards resumed responsibility for protecting the reserves.
“Whenever forest guards went there, they were fired upon, and some lost their lives,” he said.
He called on the chiefs to support government operations, particularly in communities where young people and some traditional authorities had opposed the work of the National Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Illegal Mining (NAIMOS).
Traditional authorities, he said, were in a strong position to help tackle the local conditions allowing illegal mining to continue because they lived within the affected communities.
President Mahama also raised concerns about incidents during enforcement operations in which soldiers had fired their weapons, causing deaths.
Plans to restore damaged areas
He said GoldBod had started discussions with the military over a programme to restore forest areas damaged by illegal mining and replant them with economic trees.
Under the plan, bulldozers will be used to level degraded land, while the Forestry Commission will work with the programme on reforestation.
The President also said the Finance Minister had allocated GH¢400 million in the 2027 Budget to recruit more Blue Water Guards to patrol the country’s water bodies.
The guards, he said, had been directed to destroy changfang machines whenever they found them in operation.
Several of the machines had already been destroyed, he added, helping to clear many major river channels. However, illegal mining in tributaries remained a problem because the activity continued to wash mud and silt into the rivers.
