A leading member of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s Communication Team, Dennis Miracles Aboagye has cautioned against calls to impose a fresh nationwide ban on small-scale mining, saying such a move would not provide a lasting solution to Ghana’s galamsey crisis.
In a panel discussion on Channel One TV, Aboagye said that while the government faces rising pressure to act, repeating past mistakes like an outright ban would be “unsustainable.”
“A ban on small-scale mining is not a sustainable approach,” he stated. “We tried it between April 2017 and December 2018. Our water bodies recovered for a while, but when the ban was lifted, illegal mining returned.”
He noted that the core problem lies in weak enforcement and poor transition plans after such bans are lifted, not the activity itself.
“Perhaps where we failed was in the processes leading to the lifting of the ban,” Aboagye explained. “We must learn from that experience rather than repeating it.”
He also highlighted inconsistencies in the ruling party’s position on the issue, recalling that its 2024 campaign manifesto promised to “ban all forms of small-scale mining” within 120 days of taking office.
“You believed licenses were the root of illegality,” Aboagye said, referring to the government’s earlier stance. “If that’s your belief, then revoke all licenses. But you can’t now take power and suddenly change your position.”
Aboagye maintained that sustainable regulation, not prohibition, remains the only viable path forward.
“What we need is a structured system that enforces the rules, not a knee-jerk ban,” he argued. “We can’t keep using short-term measures to solve a long-term problem.”
