President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, has urged the government to widen its fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, to include financiers, equipment suppliers and gold buyers operating within the illegal gold economy.
Speaking at the 2026 National Mining Dialogue on Tuesday, August 18, he stressed that focusing mainly on miners at the bottom of the chain would not end illegal mining, as the activities were supported by a wider network of influential actors.
“Our response to illegal mining must also go beyond the person operating the excavator,” Mr Dwumfour said.
He added: “The illegal gold economy has financiers, equipment suppliers, buyers, middlemen and other interests behind it. If we target only the person at the bottom, we may remove one excavator today and find another one in the same place tomorrow.”
He therefore urged authorities to deploy tactics he described as “follow the chain” and “follow the money”, noting that where evidence implicated powerful interests, those individuals or entities should not be shielded because of their influence.
“The law must apply equally,” Mr Dwumfour emphasised.
He, however, acknowledged mining’s contribution to the economy, noting that producing member companies of the Ghana Chamber of Mines paid GHS17.68 billion in fiscal payments to the government in 2024.
But he said economic gains should not be the sole measure of mining’s value.
“We must also ask: At what cost? Who benefits? Who bears the consequences? And what are we leaving behind when the minerals are gone?” he stated.
Drawing from his background in Tarkwa, a major mining area in the Western Region, Mr Dwumfour said mining had both created opportunities and placed pressure on land, water bodies and livelihoods.
He cautioned against equating small-scale mining with illegal mining, saying thousands of Ghanaians depended on artisanal and small-scale mining for their livelihoods.
He advocated credible pathways to formalise responsible small-scale mining while protecting the environment.
Mr Dwumfour also announced plans by the GJA to hold a one-week dialogue and symposium on the galamsey crisis, followed by a nationwide field exercise involving veteran and experienced journalists to assess the status of the menace.
He said the team would visit affected communities and mining sites, examine rivers and degraded lands, and engage miners, farmers, traditional leaders, regulators and other stakeholders.
“This exercise will be independent of government,” he explained, adding that the GJA would “go there to find the truth” and publish its findings irrespective of whether they pleased the government or the opposition.
“We will report what we find. If there has been progress, we will say so. If there are gaps, we will identify them. If there have been failures, we will report them,” he said.
The Dialogue was held under the theme, “Mining, Local Content and the Catchment Compact: Rethinking the Social Licence to Operate”, with discussions focused on how Ghana can maximise the economic and social value from the extraction of its mineral resources without compromising the health and environmental wellbeing of present and future generations.
