Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, has questioned what happens to persons arrested daily by the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) and the Blue Water Guards in the fight against illegal mining.
He says if the arrests are followed by prosecution, Ghana’s prisons should be full by now.
Dr. Ashigbey was speaking on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Monday, September 7, 2026, in reaction to disclosures that galamsey activities account for about 25 per cent of fibre cuts recorded across the country.
The Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, had disclosed during a Government Accountability Series at the Jubilee House on Monday, September 7, that Ghana has recorded more than 8,000 fibre cuts in 2026 alone, with repair costs exceeding US$20 million.
Reacting to the development, Dr. Ashigbey said the fight against galamsey is not being felt because there is no information on the prosecution of suspects.
He indicated that the suspects being paraded are mostly casual workers at the pits. “We know that these people that they’re arresting are just the first layer of the people who are found in the pits,” he said.
On foreigners arrested, he said it is unclear whether deportation is still being carried out, following the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s policy and some petitions that were filed by the Ghana Catholic Bishop’s conference.
“The foreigners that are arrested, I don’t know whether they are still deporting them. But the rest of them that are being arrested, what is happening to them?” he questioned.
He called for regular updates from state prosecutorial agencies on the status of cases. “Again, it is important that we get some regular updates from the Attorney-General’s office, police, about these people who are being arrested. Where are they taking them to?” he added.
Dr. Ashigbey warned that failure to prosecute will embolden illegal miners to return to the sites since they are not facing any consequences for their actions to serve as deterrence to others.
“Because if you arrest them and at the end we don’t prosecute them to serve as a deterrent, they just go and come back,” he stated.
Ken Ashigbey kicks against calls to reclaim ‘galamsey’ sites with mining royalties
