Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, has called for a shift in the fight against illegal mining to target financiers and owners of equipment used for the illegal activity.
He said while legal small-scale miners must be supported to mine responsibly, attention must also focus on what he described as the second layer of people fueling the menace.
“A very critical part of this is the fact that in as much as we would want and we should all support legal small-scale miners to mine responsibly, and get our regulators to deal with them, we should also be dealing with the second-layer of people,” he said on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Monday, September 7, 2026.
Dr. Ashigbey was reacting to disclosures by the Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, during a Government Accountability Series at the Jubilee House on Monday, September 7, that galamsey activities account for about 25 per cent of fibre cuts recorded in the country in 2026.
He described those behind galamsey as faceless, rich and influential persons who finance the operations, buy illegal gold and provide excavators and changfans.
“These faceless rich and influential people who provide the financing for these people who are buying the illegal gold, who are providing the excavators, changfans, these people are politically exposed persons, chiefs, rich and influential people,” he stated.
Dr. Ashigbey said the intelligence community must be brought into the fight rather than leaving the entire thing to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
“We need our intelligence community to also help us,” he said, adding that undue pressure is being placed on the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources alone.
“I don’t know why we keep on putting a lot of pressure on this Minister for Lands and Natural Resources. What is happening to the intelligence community? So we urge the Minister for National Security and Interior, and again the intelligence community. We should go into these things,” he added.
Some assemblies are collecting fees and levies at galamsey sites – Ken Ashigbey
