By Lawrence Odoom/Phalonzy
The illegal mining menace known as galamsey would have metastasized into an uncontrollable scourge were it not for the resolute leadership of Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Hon. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Ministry’s spokesperson has asserted.
Speaking with unflinching conviction on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Monday, Paa Kwesi Schandorf, Spokesperson to the Ministry, lauded the Minister’s unyielding crusade to purge and sanitize Ghana’s embattled mining sector.
“Hon. Armah-Kofi Buah is determined to sanitize the mining sector. Without his leadership, the galamsey situation would have been far worse,” Schandorf declared, framing the Minister’s stewardship as the bulwark preventing ecological collapse.
Schandorf’s pronouncement comes amid heightened national consternation over the wanton devastation of forest reserves, the poisoning of major river bodies, and the desecration of arable lands by illegal miners.
He contended that the Minister’s interventions have been instrumental in stemming what could have devolved into irreversible environmental ruination.
The spokesperson delineated a series of uncompromising measures spearheaded by Hon. Buah, including the revocation of illicit licenses, the deployment of enhanced surveillance architecture, and the recalibration of enforcement protocols across mining districts. These interventions, he argued, reflect a paradigm shift from rhetorical condemnation to surgical enforcement.
“Galamsey is not merely an environmental infraction , it is an assault on national sovereignty and the birthright of future generations,” Schandorf stated. “The Minister has refused to preside over platitudes. He has chosen the arduous path of accountability.
He dismissed suggestions that government’s efforts have been tepid, insisting that the scale of inherited rot necessitated systemic overhaul rather than cosmetic crackdowns.
According to Schandorf, Hon. Buah’s leadership has re-injected credibility into state institutions previously accused of complicity and inertia.
Ghana’s water security remains imperiled, with the Ghana Water Company Limited repeatedly warning that turbidity levels in the Pra, Ankobra, and Birim rivers have rendered treatment regimes nearly untenable. Civil society and traditional authorities have amplified calls for emergency action.
Against this backdrop, Schandorf positioned the Minister as a bulwark against complete ecological capitulation. “Leadership is measured not by the absence of crisis, but by the fortitude to confront it. On that score, Hon. Armah-Kofi Buah has been unequivocal,” he said.
The Ministry maintains that the sanitization agenda will intensify in the coming months, with new legislative instruments and inter-agency task forces slated for rollout. As public pressure mounts, the Minister’s resolve, Schandorf insists, remains the decisive variable between containment and catastrophe.