FRIMPONG-BOATENG SPEAKS ON GALAMSEY — ‘ENFORCING ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS CARRIES POLITICAL COST’

Former Environment Minister Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng has delivered a blunt assessment of Ghana’s prolonged battle against illegal mining, arguing that political calculations have repeatedly weakened efforts to protect the country’s rivers, forests and farmlands.

Speaking at the Fourth Annual Colloquium of the Department of Political Science Education at the University of Education, Winneba, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said successive governments had introduced measures to tackle galamsey but struggled to sustain them.

‘THE POLITICAL COST FALLS ON THE ENFORCER’

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng argued that officials who enforce environmental laws often bear the political consequences, while those who fail to act face little or no cost.

He said this imbalance has contributed significantly to Ghana’s difficulty in defeating illegal mining.

“In Ghana, the political cost of enforcing environmental law falls on the enforcer, and the political cost of not enforcing it falls on nobody.”

ANTI-GALAMSEY SYSTEM WAS BUILT — THEN ABANDONED

The former minister recalled measures introduced between 2017 and 2018, including the ban on artisanal and small-scale mining, Operation Vanguard, district-level committees, miner training and systems to monitor mining concessions and excavators.

According to him, the measures initially produced visible results, with parts of the Pra River becoming clear and reports of fish returning to waters previously considered severely degraded.

He argued, however, that many of the safeguards were abandoned after the mining ban was lifted in December 2018.

GH¢21 BILLION? NO — $21 BILLION RESTORATION BILL

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng has also warned about the enormous financial cost of repairing the damage caused by illegal mining and other destructive activities.

He estimates that Ghana could require approximately US$21 billion to reclaim and restore degraded lands, with about 10% of the country’s surface area affected.

CALL FOR A NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL COMPACT

The former minister is proposing a National Environmental Compact to protect major environmental policies from being discarded whenever political power changes hands.

Under his proposal, any government seeking to abandon a major environmental commitment would have to explain the decision to Parliament and account for resources already invested in the policy.

He believes creating consequences for policy abandonment would make successive administrations more reluctant to sacrifice long-term environmental protection for short-term political considerations.

‘JAIL THOSE WHO APPROVE ILLEGAL PROJECTS’

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng has further called for personal criminal liability for public officials who approve developments in protected wetlands, watercourses, drainage channels and forest reserves.

His argument is that institutions cannot be imprisoned for unlawful decisions — the individuals responsible for approving them should face accountability.

THE GALAMSEY BATTLE CONTINUES

With Ghana still grappling with polluted water bodies, degraded farmlands and destroyed forest reserves, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng believes the country needs more than political promises and temporary interventions.

His latest intervention has once again shifted attention to the difficult question of political will, enforcement and accountability in Ghana’s fight against galamsey.

For Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, Ghana already knows many of the solutions. The real challenge is whether political leaders will have the courage to enforce them — and keep them in place.