The Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Prof Nana Ama Browne Klutse, has issued a forceful call for a radical and uncompromising approach to tackling illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey, which continues to devastate Ghana’s environment.
Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse, Prof Klutse condemned the prevailing complacency and reiterated her agency’s readiness to take bold action where others have hesitated.
“We have to go radical in dealing with this situation. We seem to be managing the problem—we seem to be massaging the challenge but we can be more radical than what we are doing now. Once we have what it takes and the resources to do it, we will do it as EPA. If no agency wants to do it, we, the EPA, will.”
Prof. Klutse criticised previous interventions as repetitive and ineffective, arguing that a lack of innovation has hampered progress in the fight against galamsey.
“I will say that there have been efforts, but we have not done it radically. We seem to be redoing the same thing over and over again. We have to go the radical tangent” she said.
Since assuming office, the EPA boss has adopted a hands-on leadership style, personally conducting field visits to illegal mining sites to better understand the realities on the ground.
“Since assuming office, I needed to understand the situation myself—not just through hearsay. So I’ve been to the field several times; virtually every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I am out there on compliance and monitoring of environmental issues, including visits to illegal mining areas. Understanding the issue is one thing I needed to do, and then sitting to plan is also another part of the process.”
She also noted that while stakeholder engagement has been pursued in good faith, dialogue alone is no longer enough.
“Yes, I started by involving the communities, involving the large-scale miners. I have met the small-scale mining association to help us with this. I have met large-scale illegal miners to help us with this fight. And I see that all this dialogue we are having is not the way to go. It’s not working.”
“So we need to go radical,” she affirmed.
Ghana’s fight against galamsey has spanned multiple administrations, with interventions ranging from military deployments to community sensitisation campaigns.
Yet the results remain inconsistent. The environmental toll has been devastating water bodies poisoned with chemicals, fertile lands destroyed, and forest reserves stripped bare
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