International journalist Kent Mensah has raised questions about the whereabouts of the 200 soldiers deployed by the government in 2021 to safeguard the nation’s water bodies from the threat of illegal mining, known as galamsey.
Mr. Mensah, a contributor to AFP, Al Jazeera, and Voice of America (VOA), made his remarks amid the country’s ongoing struggle with the destructive effects of galamsey.
He expressed his curiosity about the fate of those soldiers, noting that the current situation suggests they have not fulfilled their mandate.
“What happened to the soldiers? In 2021, the Defence Minister announced that 200 soldiers had been deployed to protect our water bodies from illegal mining (galamsey). So what became of that effort? Did the soldiers fail, or were they simply overwhelmed by the scale of the problem?” Mensah wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday, 8th October 2024.
He further questioned the prevailing narrative that tends to hold other security agencies, such as the police, responsible for failing to control galamsey. Mensah argued that attention should instead be directed at the military, which was specifically tasked and resourced to spearhead the battle against illegal mining.
“We deserve answers. Blaming the police and other security agencies in this fight feels misplaced when the military, with all the state resources and backing, was tasked with protecting our water. If even the military couldn’t succeed in this mission, it signals a much larger issue at hand,” he added.
In 2021, Ghana’s Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, revealed the deployment of 200 soldiers to protect the nation’s water bodies from illegal mining activities. Nitiwul had promised the public that the initiative would focus on key rivers and forest reserves in regions heavily affected by galamsey.
“This operation will be conducted on all major rivers and forest reserves in all galamsey-endemic regions throughout the country to rid them of illegal mining activities. There will be aerial patrols at places where the Ghana Armed Forces has also swept past. Armed men would be authorised to take immediate action on anyone who returns to these river bodies to engage in galamsey activities,” Nitiwul had said at the time.
Despite these actions, the degradation of water bodies remains a major concern in Ghana. Mensah’s remarks echo the increasing public dissatisfaction with the seemingly ineffective government efforts to tackle galamsey.
“Our future depends on the protection of our natural resources, and we cannot afford to let this go unanswered,” Mensah concluded.
His comments come at a time of intense public outrage over the persistent environmental destruction caused by illegal mining, with many Ghanaians calling for more accountability and transparency in the fight against galamsey. As scrutiny on the military and other security agencies mounts, the pressing question is: what went wrong in the efforts to safeguard Ghana’s water bodies, and how can the nation recover from this ecological disaster?
