According to Oppon Sasu, a former executive director of the Forestry Commission, politicians' lack of political will to crack down on illicit mining (galamsey) during election years is what has led to the destruction wrought by its operations.
He claims that as a result of politicians' involvement in graft, illicit mining increased in the nation in the years leading up to the 2012, 2016, and 2020 elections.
He said that the illicit gold trade had been actively supported by politicians and other people with a political agenda, which had contributed to the entrenchment of damaging activities in the nation's forest reserves.
In an interview, Mr. Sasu stated to the Daily Graphic that over the previous three election cycles, lawmakers either loosened the restrictions on illicit mining or just sought elsewhere to finance their political efforts with money obtained from the illicit trade.
Galamsey is more prevalent during election years because it provides politicians with easy money. As a result, they lack the political will to put an end to it. In some cases, they even take money from illegal miners before they enter the forest to mine. However, all you need is the freedom to mine without restrictions.
Imagine the damage and the profit they can make, he remarked, even if they simply enter the forest for a week.
During the recently convened stakeholders forum on natural resources in Accra, Mr. Sasu was speaking to the Daily Graphic.
The conference's topic was "Harnessing our natural resources responsibly for our sustainable collective good."
Destructions
Without the assistance or protection of the political elite, Mr. Sasu, who has over 40 years of expertise managing forest resources, asserted that people would not be able to break into forest reserves unlawfully to mine gold.
He gave a personal account of how the nation's forest reserves had deteriorated over time, claiming that the greatest deterioration began in the 1980s, when disastrous wildfires broke out in several locations across the nation.
According to him, the practice of illegal chainsaw logging was also brought about by the enormous exodus of Ghanaians from Nigeria in 1983, and farmers also began encroaching on forest reserves to develop their crops at the same time.
Before illicit mining began, "as young officers, we realized the destruction," he recounted.
According to him, there was no illicit mining in forest reserves up until about 2000, and galamsey operations were only carried out using hand-held instruments like pickaxes and shovels, which limited the amount of damage.
He said that by 2012, however, illegal miners had started employing excavators in their operations, consequently having a greater negative impact on the forest.
Excavators first appeared in the illicit mining industry along with the surge of foreign workers.
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