Political risk analyst and Economist Dr. Theo Acheampong has dismissed calls for a state of emergency as the ultimate solution to Ghana’s illegal mining crisis, stressing that the fight requires long-term and systemic reforms.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on September 20, he argued that such a declaration would only provide a temporary fix without addressing the root causes of galamsey.
“I don’t think a state of emergency is necessarily what will solve the problem. It’s an ad hoc call and an extemporaneous measure, but really the long-term radical solutions that we need to do, some of the things that are on the table that we should have been doing, are the things that we are not doing,” he said.
Dr. Acheampong noted that while deploying soldiers to galamsey sites may create the impression of progress, it ultimately fails to deliver lasting results.
“For the optics, it may look good; you may see some soldiers going to clear the galamsey sites and what not, but at the end of the day, if you don’t really take the long-term measures to try and improve things—repeal some of those laws, deal with the supply-site issues in terms of the people financing the operations—we are all just going to be kidding ourselves really at the end of the day. And that is what really must go into the intervention that we make,” he stated.
He stressed that while the Constitution provides room for emergency powers, the country’s approach to illegal mining should focus on consistency, systemic action, and better coordination.
“As for the constitutional provisions, it’s there, but it requires systemic action, and what we need is consistency and what we need is more coordination. I don’t even think that the Minerals Commission necessarily is the one to wholly deal with this; they are part of the problem,” he added.
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