The President said intensified operations by the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) had resulted in the seizure of excavators and changfang machines and the removal of illegal miners from several forest reserves.

President Mahama made the disclosure during his Resetting Ghana Tour of the Upper East Region, where he reiterated the government’s determination to protect the country’s forests, water bodies and other natural resources from illegal mining.

According to him, NAIMOS has stepped up its operations in areas affected by illegal mining and has succeeded in clearing a significant number of forest reserves previously occupied by miners.

“NAIMOS is working very hard. We have seized excavators, we have seized Changfang machines, and we have driven illegal miners out of this area, and we are making progress,” he said.

He disclosed that nearly 49 forest reserves had been invaded by illegal miners, adding that the government had managed to clear as many of the affected areas as possible.

The President, however, said maintaining the gains made after the initial clearance operations had become a major challenge.

He explained that the reclaimed reserves were initially handed over to the Forestry Commission, but some illegal miners returned because forest guards lacked the capacity to prevent their re-entry.

As a result, the government has resorted to deploying military personnel to forest reserves after clearance operations to prevent illegal miners from returning.

“What we initially did was that we handed the places to the Forestry Commission after clearing them, but the illegal miners don’t fear the forest guards, and so we now put a military detachment after we clear a forest reserve,” President Mahama explained.

He acknowledged that keeping security personnel in the forest reserves comes with significant financial implications, including the cost of feeding the troops and providing them with the necessary logistics.

“That means we will have to spend more money to feed the soldiers and provide logistics for them to continue to stay in the forest, but we will not give up the fight,” he stressed.

President Mahama maintained that despite the additional cost involved, his government would remain committed to preventing illegal miners from reclaiming forest reserves that have already been cleared.

Illegal mining continues to pose a major threat to Ghana’s environment, contributing to the destruction of forest cover, pollution of water bodies and degradation of farmlands.

The government’s latest approach seeks not only to remove illegal miners from affected areas but also to secure reclaimed lands to prevent a return of galamsey activities.