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GALAMSEY FIGHT:WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN?,GWJN ASHANTI ORGANISER DEMANDS ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY
Henry Atta Kotei questions the lack of comprehensive public information on excavators seized, equipment destroyed,gold and cash recovered and the overall results of Ghana’s anti-illegal mining operations.
The Ashanti Regional Organiser of the Ghana Water and Sanitation Journalists Network (GWJN), Henry Atta Kotei,has called for greater transparency and accountability in Ghana’s ongoing fight against illegal small-scale mining, popularly known as galamsey.
Mr. Kotei,who is also the News Editor and Head of Operations at Oseikrom Media Network, operators of Oseikrom 98.7 MHz and Oseikrom Dawuro Newspaper, is widely known in media circles as Atta K. Henry.
Raising concerns about the effectiveness and transparency of successive governments’ interventions,he believes the time has come for Ghanaians to demand answers to a fundamental question:Who watches the watchmen?
He observed that illegal mining continues to pose a serious threat to Ghana’s natural resources,with widespread pollution of water bodies, destruction of forest reserves and degradation of farmlands.
According to him,although successive governments have announced various measures to combat the menace, including the current administration’s renewed efforts through the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), the public deserves a comprehensive account of the results of these operations.
Mr. Kotei questioned the number of excavators seized during enforcement operations, how many had been destroyed,the quantity of gold recovered,the amount of money retrieved and the volume of ammunition and other equipment confiscated.
He argued that these are legitimate public-interest questions that must be answered by the relevant authorities,regardless of which government initiated or continued the interventions.
“The fight against galamsey cannot be fought in secrecy. If we are seizing excavators, burning some of them,retrieving gold,money and ammunition, the people must know. How many have been seized? Where are they? What happened to the gold and money recovered? This is accountability,” he queried.
The senior journalist warned that the absence of clear,accessible and verifiable information could undermine public confidence in the anti-galamsey campaign, particularly after years of enforcement operations and the deployment of significant state resources.
He therefore called on government agencies responsible for the fight,civil society organisations and the media to intensify demands for regular public reports on enforcement activities, seizures, prosecutions, recoveries and the reclamation of degraded lands.
Mr. Kotei emphasised that the fight against illegal mining must go beyond arrests,demolitions and the destruction of equipment,insisting that measurable results and institutional accountability should form an integral part of the national campaign.
He maintained that protecting Ghana’s water bodies,forests and other natural resources requires not only holding illegal miners accountable but also demanding transparency from the institutions and individuals entrusted with leading the fight.
He stressed that Ghanaians deserve answers,not just assurances,in the fight to protect the country’s environment and natural resources.
