The Ashanti Regional Organizer of the Ghana Water and Sanitation Journalists Network (GWJN), Henry Atta Kotei, has raised critical questions over transparency and accountability in Ghana’s prolonged fight against illegal small-scale mining, popularly known as ‘galamsey’
Mr. Atta K., who is also the News Editor and Head of Operations at Oseikrom Media Network, operators of Oseikrom 98.7 MHz and Oseikrom Dawuro Newspaper and widely known in the inky fraternity as Atta K. Henry, says the time has come for Ghanaians to ask: “Who watches the watchman?”
Speaking on the state of the anti-galamsey fight, he noted that the menace had left devastating consequences on the country’s natural resources, with reports indicating that close to 87 percent of Ghana’s river bodies had been polluted, while vast stretches of farmlands and forest reserves had also been degraded due to illegal mining activities.
According to him, while successive governments have declared commitments to ending the menace, including the current administration’s renewed efforts through the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), the public is yet to be given a full and transparent account of the operations undertaken so far.
Mr. Atta K. questioned who should be held accountable for key aspects of the fight, including the number of excavators seized, how many were burnt, how much gold was retrieved from illegal mining sites, the amount of money recovered and the quantity of ammunition and other equipment confiscated in the course of enforcement operations.
He argues that these are legitimate questions of public accountability that must be addressed openly to Ghanaians, from the past government that initiated several anti-galamsey interventions to the current government that is continuing the fight with NAIMOS as the arrow head.
“The fight against galamsey cannot be fought in secrecy. If we are seizing excavators, burning some of them, retrieving gold and money and ammunition, the people must know. How many have been seized, where are they, what happened to the gold and money retrieved? This is accountability,” he quizzed.
The senior journalist stressed that without clear data and public accounting, the anti-galamsey fight risked losing public trust, despite the enormous resources and state security machinery that had been deployed over the years.
He called on state agencies leading the fight, civil society groups and the media to demand regular, verifiable updates on seizures, prosecutions, recoveries and the state of reclaimed lands, to ensure that the campaign against galamsey produces real results and not just rhetoric.
Mr. Atta K. maintained that protecting Ghana’s water bodies and the environment required not only enforcement against illegal miners, but also accountability from those entrusted with leading the fight itself.
