John Dramani Mahama is the president of Ghana
President John Dramani Mahama has stressed the need for law enforcement agencies to shift their focus from arresting small-scale miners working in illegal pits to apprehending the financiers and masterminds behind such operations.
Speaking during an engagement with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on the galamsey crisis, on Friday, October 3, 2025, Mahama argued that targeting only pit workers does little to curb the menace.
“Those who run the operations are the ones we must arrest, not the boys. We need to change the mode of arrest. We can look rather for the kingpins and deal with them so that we are able to get something from this,” he stated.
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Mahama emphasised that illegal mining has become an entrenched activity due to the powerful individuals who fund and benefit from the operations, often at the expense of the environment and local communities.
He called for a coordinated approach involving law enforcement, community leaders, and policymakers to dismantle the networks sustaining illegal mining.
The president further noted that tackling the financiers of galamsey would serve as a more effective deterrent and signal the government’s seriousness in addressing the crisis.
Galamsey-Wontumi-faces-arrest-if-he-fails-to-report-to-Accra-on-October-6-AG-2003508″>Galamsey: Wontumi faces arrest if he fails to report to Accra on October 6 – AG
His remarks form part of ongoing national conversations on how to halt the destruction of forest reserves, rivers, and farmlands caused by illegal small-scale mining.
MRA/AE
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