The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Small-Scale Miners Association (GSSMA), Michael Adu Gyamfi, has cautioned that Ghana cannot win the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, if the country continues to rely on the same strategies that have consistently failed.
Speaking in an interview with Kwadwo Sefah-Danquah on Happy 98.9 FM’s Happy Morning Show, Mr. Gyamfi stressed that despite successive governments interventions, the menace of galamsey persists.
He agreed with public concerns that past efforts by various administrations have yielded little to no results.
“If you look at the fight against galamsey and listen to what Ghanaians are saying, it simply means the strategies haven’t yielded any results, and I agree with them,” he said.
According to him, successive governments including the current one have repeated identical strategies without critically assessing their impact.
“What I have observed is that both previous and current governments keep following the same strategy in fighting galamsey, and we are all aware that we aren’t seeing any results. Common sense tells us that you can’t repeat the same mistakes and expect different results,” he added.
Mr. Gyamfi added that the Ghana Small-Scale Miners Association expects the Mahama administration to introduce fresh and effective measures, as promised, to address the galamsey challenge once and for all.