President John Dramani Mahama has declared that his administration will continue deploying and maintaining military detachments in cleared forest reserves to prevent illegal gold miners from returning.
Speaking during his “Resetting Ghana Tour” of the Upper East Region, President Mahama acknowledged that maintaining an active military presence inside protected zones carries significant operational costs.
However, he emphasized that sustaining military personnel on-site is necessary to break the persistent cycle of re-entry by galamsey operators after initial security clearance sweeps.
A Shift in Strategy
The President highlighted that previous enforcement efforts faced setbacks when reclaimed lands were handed over directly to civilian authorities.
“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,” President Mahama stated. “Out of the almost 49 forest reserves that were invaded [by illegal miners], we have been able to clear as many of them as possible of illegal miners.”
He explained the tactical shift required to retain control over the reclaimed reserves: “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.”
Budgetary Commitments and Anti-Galamsey Operations
The enforcement campaign relies heavily on the operations of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS). Under the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the multi-agency unit coordinates intelligence-led operations targeting illegal mining hubs near major water bodies and ecological sanctuaries.
President Mahama acknowledged that long-term military stationing requires a continuous flow of public funds, but maintained that the expenditure is justified to safeguard Ghana’s forest cover and water systems.
“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,” the President added.
Despite persistent environmental degradation across gold-bearing regions, the government maintains that stationed military units working alongside NAIMOS enforcement teams will remain deployed indefinitely to keep illegal miners out of protected forest reserves.
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