A few days ago, I had a lengthy conversation with the Spokesperson for the Minister at the Lands and Forestry Ministry, Mahmud Kabore, on my Radio Show, the Class Morning Show (Class 91.3FM), on the measures being implemented to deal with the Galamsey menace.

He rattled them with ease and the level of progress made by the Ministry, and by extension, the government in dealing with the threat.

Hear him. 1345 arrests made in the last 5 months.425 excavators and machines were seized across the country.55 Illegal licenses were revoked, with 907 under review. 5,500 hectares of land degraded,9 forest reserves reclaimed from illegal Miners.

Oh, there is more.1200 imported excavators impounded with validation pending.

177 excavators, 4 bulldozers, 12 vehicles, 43 motorcycles, 155 pumping machines, 184 changfangs, 15 detector machines and 10 heavy-duty generators were seized in rest reserves alone.

Now that is a very impressive job done in 6 months of the current administration, if the figures are anything to go by.

The question on the lips of many, especially those in galamsey-infested areas, is whether that is a reflection of the situation on the ground.

POLITICAL WILL

In recent times, the President has referred two leading Party officials of the current administration, National Vice Chairman, Abanga Yakubu and National Organiser, Joseph Yammin, to be investigated by the Economic and Crime Organisation (EOCO) following representations made to the Presidency.

That would naturally deserve some applause.

As loud as it may get. Over the years, there have been multiple reports of very powerful forces within the two major political parties (NPP and NDC) being heavily involved in the menace.

Indeed, under the previous administration, Chairman Wontumi, together with a long list of officials in the Jubilee House, were strongly mentioned in this conversation.

The revelations by the revered Heart Surgeon, Professor Frimpong Boateng, who led a task force investigating Galamsey-related issues, further brought to the fore how the rich and mighty devastated the environment for their selfish gains.

Indeed, the current Member of Parliament for the Aowin Constituency, Oscar Ofori Larbi, has also been strongly mentioned by his own chiefs and people of being involved in the menace.

Until there is a firm punishment meted out to people in very high places and their accomplices and they being publicly shamed with the embarrassment it comes with, we would be going nowhere. Going after the small fry’s who cannot afford a % of the cost of the excavator is simply not good enough.

ROLE OF THE SECURITY AGENCIES

Millions of Ghana Cedis has already been sunk into all kinds of security operations in dealing with the threat. It’s become a bit of cliché to hear of one operation or the other to deal with this threat without an impressive long-term resume.

What is the point spending millions on one security program after another and leaving the forests or sites only to have the illegal miners get in again?

What is really the point? Shouldn’t there rather be a strategy that would keep this illegality out of the woods in perpetuity?

It is one thing seizing all of these materials as captured in the above but you bet these guys would be back to the forests if the measures to get them out are not stringent enough.

FUNDING

The investment that is made with dealing with this threat is so important. How equipped are the security agencies and the Forestry Commission in dealing with the threats?

In this day of technology, its not really about packing young and abled men and women in uniform into the forests to ward of these guys.

There are modern gadgets that can survey large areas and be operated from tens of kilometers away.

They will only send signals which would get them swinging into action. As a nation, have we made a conscious effort to invest into that area beyond throwing soldiers into the forests with machine guns and other armory?

What is the cost-benefit analysis of camping hundreds of military men in the forest compared to investing in modern technology?

CORRUPTION

In engaging as many people in the space, it is almost impossible to overlook the level of corruption which is playing into this conversation.

High-ranking officials are alleged to be taken care off to allow the illegality to continue.

Snr Officials of successive governments and the security are said to be on the payroll of these very wealthy illegal miners.

Their job is to tip them off operations and swoops that may be mounted to get them off the hook.

Other officials are also very happy to inflate the cost of operations that are mounted to go after these criminals and would rather have a so-called surveillance team on the ground rather than the use of technology in dealing with the threat.

Others are also alleged to go after their share of the booty rather than arresting the criminals involved. How then do we nip this in the mud?

INVOLVING THE LOCALS

How we have run a system where an individual shows up in a community with a license from Accra without any recourse to the local authorities, rather than the Chiefs who are the custodians of the land, is simply baffling.

It is refreshing to hear the traditional Authorities, Opinion Leaders, the Municipal and District Chief Executives are being roped in to constitute a team that would have to sign off on any mining activity in their local Community.

There have been concerns that these individuals may be induced by some of these high-net-worth individuals to allow them to carry on with their nefarious activities.

If they would not take the lives and the lives of the people into serious consideration with respect to their food and water supplies, then God bless us all.

TASK FORCE

It was great to hear about the formation of a task force to effectively curb illegal mining operators and their work but it's sad to hear that some unscrupulous people appear to have taken advantage of this initiative to carry out their own nefarious activities.

These individuals are alleged to be running around mining concerns without the authorisation from the task force to and are said to be forcibly extracting money from some miners and in some instances hauling way their machinery to unknown destinations with the tacit support of some political elements.

The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat should be strongly equipped to deal with these exigencies to effectively coordinate and supervise all mining raids.

LONG-TERM COMMUNAL SOLUTIONS

Government may be taking all kinds of measures to deal with the threat of galamsey but the bigger picture of this conversation cannot be ignored.

Many of the locals in these areas have raised questions about what is being offered in return. Many of these locals claim that they are very few opportunities as far as employment in their local communities is involved.

They also complain about the lack of basic amenities to transform their jurisdictions.

There has to a decisive effort in providing opportunities that would serve as an incentive keep the locals grounded and prevent the further destruction of our lands and water bodies.

Until the concerns of the locals are met, this call may just fall on deaf ears.

The threat of the menace on the lives of all and sundry cannot be ignored.

You may leave hundreds of kilometers from these areas but only Go knows what we are consuming from our lant based foods.

A greater chunk of the foods on the markets are from the galamsey infested regions.

We have heard stories of newborns with all kinds of deformities, clearly from the chemicals used in the extraction of the precious metals.

The spike in all kinds of diseases associated with the kidneys and cancers cannot be overlooked.

The rich and mighty can afford to import food and water to take care of themselves. What about the greater part of the population?

All hands must be on deck to deal with this menace.

The writer is Kwame Dwomoh-Agyemang, Host of the Morning Show on Class 91.3fm.